Emirates ministerial council for services discusses social aid policy

Under the chairmanship of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, the Ministerial Council for Services discussed during its meeting at the Presidential Palace today, the social aid policy, which has been referred by Mariam bint Mohammed Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of Social Affairs.
The policy comes within the application of the federal government's strategic plan regarding transforming from the current social care system into social development, as well as promoting the social care concept to a social development concept.
The policy also includes the involvement of beneficiaries of social security in the development process for the advantage of society and improving beneficiaries' living standards, through setting up mechanisms to fund the projects, increase of initiatives and rehabilitation programmes.
The Council also reviewed a memorandum, submitted by Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education and Chairman of the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources.
The memorandum includes a report on the results of the application of the Performance Management System of other bodies that applied the Human Resources Law in 2013.
The Ministerial Council also approved setting up a federal bill pertaining to ensuring money transferring rights. The bill also aims to facilitate funding of small and medium enterprises.
The Council also discussed three proposals, referred by the Federal National Council (FNC); the first proposal is related to the Council's proposals pertaining to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Policy in the scientific research field.
The second proposal is regarding the Increase of Housing Allowances for U.A.E. employees, who are married to more than one Emirati wife, and a third proposal on Encouraging Voluntary work.
It also reviewed two financial reports, referred by the Minister of State for Financial Affairs.
The first report deals with the semi-annual meeting of the World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF), held in Washington last April. The second report tackled the IMF mission report regarding consultations with the U.A.E. regarding Article No.4 of 2014.
The mission also commended the economic diversification in the U.A.E. and expected the acceleration of the growth of the U.A.E.'s non-oil sector to 5.5 percent as a percentage of GDP in 2014 and expected a rise in gross domestic investment to 21.3 percent in 2014.
The Council also discussed a number of issues on the agenda and took the necessary decisions.