His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has extended deepest thanks and appreciation to the Representatives and Shura councils for their fruitful cooperation with the government in preparing the General State Budget 2017-2018.
He also praised the consensus reached by the Executive and the Legislature on the principles and strategic priorities related to the budget.
This came as HRH the Prime Minister chaired the regular weekly Cabinet session at the Gudaibiya Palace today.

The Cabinet strongly condemned and denounced the terror attack which targeted an on-duty security patrol in the Saudi Qatif Province, reiterating Bahrain’s full-fledged support to sisterly Saudi Arabia and backing of all measures it deems necessary to fight terrorism and safeguard its security and stability.

It also re-affirmed the Kingdom’s principled stance in rejection of all forms and manifestations of terrorism, a post-session statement by the Cabinet Secretary-General, Dr. Yasser bin Isa Al-Nasser, also said.

The terrorist attack which targeted a security checkpoint in North Sinai, Egypt, was also strongly condemned by the session which expressed Bahrain’s solidarity with Egypt and its support for its measures aimed at maintaining its security and stability.

HRH the Prime Minister was informed about the progress of the implementation of his directives to service ministries to meet the needs of Duraz, A’ali, Muharraq and Hamad Town regarding housing and municipal services as well as public and sanitation facilities and roads.

The Prime Minister took note, through reports submitted by the Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning and the Minister of Housing, of the technical steps taken to commence the implementation of the required executive programmes.

HRH the Prime Minister gave directives to provide more car parking lots in old neighbourhoods, including those in Muharraq, to serve the citizens and visitors to health and educational facilities in those areas.

In this regard, the Prime Minister gave instructions to acquire five sites in Galali to be used as public parking lots, and requested the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister to issue the necessary acquisition edicts, as highlighted in the memorandum presented by the minister.
HRH Premier gave directives to adjust the shrimping ban period for this year so that the season begins on August 1.
The Premier’s directives are in response to the calls made by fishermen, and in line with his keenness on ensuring their livelihoods.
He issued directives to the competent authorities to take the necessary procedures, stressing that that the coming shrimping ban seasons should coincide with those in other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

In another context, HRH Premier directed to pay more attention to the cleanliness of beaches and harbours and ensure they are waste-free, giving instructions to remove waste, if any, from them, including the area surrounding the Bandar Al-Dar Port.
He also requested the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning to take the necessary measures to make sure that the contracts of the cleaning companies are still valid.

Referring to labour accommodations, HRH the Prime Minister stressed the need to ensure that heath, security and safety requirements are met in the collective residences of workers, in accordance with the resolutions and systems in force.
He tasked the relevant authorities to review the contracts relating to workers’ accommodation and to continue conducting the comprehensive inventory of bachelors’ residence, in line with a proposal submitted by the Council of Representatives in this regard.

The session agreed that youth aged between 15 and 29 are the category targeted by the Youth and Sports Affairs Ministry through its programmes, activities and services, in accordance with the international standards and the existing legislation in the kingdom, as recommended by the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs in the memorandum presented by the Deputy Premier and committee chairman.

The Cabinet also approved a proposal to consider shabu as a narcotic rather than as psychotropic substances, and decided to move it to the second group in the table of narcotic substances referred to in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law 15/2007.
The move is in line with Cabinet’s keenness to tighten the penalties on the use and importation of narcotics.
The competent authorities have been requested to take the necessary procedures in this regard.

The session also endorsed the kingdom’s hosting of the first meeting to draft an Arab strategy for the use of cloud computing in education, to be organised by the Arab Organisation for Education, Science and Culture (ALECSO), based on a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Education.

The session referred three air service agreements signed between Bahrain and Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Brazil to the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs, as outlined in the memorandum presented by the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications.

The Cabinet discussed a number of proposals submitted by the Council of Representatives, and approved the draft government replies, as recommended by the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs.

Source: Fana News