Cabinet approves draft on ratifying GCC Unified

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has lauded the noble values embedded in the opinion piece written by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in the “Washington Times” newspaper.

The opinion piece included the royal stances in support for consolidating the lofty values of co-existence and religious pluralism and reflected the reality of the Bahraini society which is, by its very nature, a role model for co-existence and tolerance.

While praising the wide-ranging echo of the royal stances expressed in the opinion piece, locally and internationally, HRH Premier stressed that the values called for by HM the King should always govern the daily actions of the government and community.

HRH Premier was speaking as he chaired the regular weekly Cabinet session, attended by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, at the Gudaibiya palace today.

The Prime Minister praised the events hosted recently by the kingdom under his patronage, a statement by the Cabinet Secretary-General, Dr. Yasser bin Isa Al-Nasser, said.
Those events, including the Middle East Process Engineering Conference and Exhibition (MEPEC), opened, on the Premier’s behalf by Deputy Premier HH Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, and the 25th conference of the Federation of Afro-Asian Insurers and Reinsurers (FAIR), contribute to consolidating Bahrain’s leadership in the exhibitions and conferences industry, the Premier said.

In this context, Deputy Premier HH Shaikh Ali briefed the session about the two prestigious events, and conveyed to HRH the Prime Minister the sincere thanks and appreciation of the exhibitors and participants for his patronage.

The Cabinet strongly condemned the terrorist blasts carried out by a terrorist group in Somalia, killing and injuring hundreds of people, and extended deepest condolences and sympathy to the Somali government and people.

HRH the Prime Minister gave directives to the competent service and executive authorities to expedite the revamp of heritage sites across the Muharraq Governorate, including the Muharraq heritage Suq and its necessary facilities, in addition to the development projects that serve the governorate’s citizens, including the “Saada” (Happiness) West seafront project, the Central Market, and others aimed at improving public services and developing infrastructure.

The relevant ministers were requested to follow up on the implementation of development and heritage projects in Muharraq.

The Prime Minister also requested the relevant authorities to identify the citizens’ needs and respond to them promptly, stressing that the citizens’ complaints and remarks that are related to services should enjoy the necessary care at ministries and government departments.

“Achieving the citizens’ satisfaction, fulfilling their aspirations and solving their problems are among the government’s top priorities,” the Premier said.

While reviewing the memoranda on its agenda, the Cabinet approved a draft-law on ratifying the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Unified Selective Excise Tax, and referred it to the Legislative Branch in accordance with Article 87 of the Constitution.
The agreement sets the general frameworks for the selective tax policy in the GCC countries in a unified manner and means of collecting selective tax.
Accordingly, a tax on goods that are harmful to human health, environment and luxury goods shall be imposed according to the list and tax rates determined by the GCC Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee.

The session also endorsed a bill on the Selective Excise Tax, and referred it to the Legislative Branch in accordance with Article 87 of the Constitution.

The law imposes a tax of 100 per cent on goods that are harmful to human health such as tobacco products, 100 per cent on energy drinks and 50 per cent on carbonated beverages.

The bill also regulates ways of dealing with cases of tax evasion, including the criminal penalties inflicted on them, tax retrieval, exemption cases, registration for tax reasons and licensing for the tax warehouse.

Another draft-law on amending some provisions of the Commercial Companies Law promulgated by Decree-Law 21/2001, was also endorsed and referred to the National Assembly in accordance with Article 87 of the Constitution.
The amendment aims to preserve the rights of investors or shareholders in the joint stock companies, whether financial or administrative or the right to vote, especially the minority shareholders who do not qualify for an effective voting power because they own less than 50 per cent of the company’s shares and therefore do not have the necessary percentage to make or object to strategic decisions.
The amendment also aims to consolidate shareholders’ role in monitoring companies’ operations, as well as improve the competitiveness of the investment environment.
The Cabinet approved a plan to restructure the Ministry of Health, in line with the government’s keenness to reduce the organisational structure of government departments and merge directorates.
Under the move, the post of assistant undersecretary and six directorates will be cancelled.
According to the new-look organisational structure of the Health Ministry, proposed by the Civil Service Bureau and presented by the Deputy Premier and Deputy Chairman of the Civil Service Council, the Assistant Undersecretary for Primary Health, the Assistant Undersecretary for Hospitals and the Communications Directorate will report directly to the Health Minister.
The Health Ministry’s Undersecretary will be responsible for two Assistant Undersecretaries, namely the Assistant Undersecretary for General Health, who will oversee the General Health and the Health Promotion directorates, and the Assistant Undersecretary for Resources and Services, who will oversee the Human Resources, Financial Resources, Information and Planning, as well as Services and Support directorates.
The Cabinet tasked the competent authorities with taking the necessary legal procedures to implement the restructuring process.

The session also approved Third Protocol Amending the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Bahrain and the United States of America, and mandated the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism to sign it so that the remaining legal and constitutional procedures can be taken, as recommended by the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs, and presented by the Deputy Premier and the committee’s chairman.

The Cabinet also took note, through a memorandum presented by the Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs, of the positive improvement in the number and duration of electrical cuts in the summer of 2017 despite the increasing demand for electricity.
These efforts led to reducing the average duration of power cuts by 68 per cent and decreasing in the average number of cuts per subscriber by 58 per cent between 2014 and 2017.
HRH the Prime Minister praised the efforts of the Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs and the Electricity and Water Authority to improve the quality of services and develop them.

The session reviewed two draft-laws, prepared based on a proposal by the Council of Representatives, on amending Article 7 of Law 74/2006 on the Welfare, Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled Person, and replacing Article 7 of Decree-Law 20/2002 with respect to the Regulation of Fishing and Exploitation of Marine Resources.

The two bills were referred to the Legislative Branch, alongside two memoranda highlighting the government’s opinion on them.

Source: Fana News