Cabinet hails successful Royal visit to Kazakhstan

Manama, Apr. 20. (BNA) -- His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has praised His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's successful visit to Kazakhstan, expressing optimism on the continued progress of the relationship between the two countries, said the Minister of State for Information Affairs and the Official Government Spokesperson Sameera Ebrahim bin Rajab. She was speaking following today's regular weekly meeting of the cabinet, chaired today by HRH Premier at the Gudaibiya Palace. The government Spokesperson said that the cabinet had referred for review two memoranda submitted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. She explained that the first related to a law regulating the provisions on weapons and nuclear materials. The primary aim of this law is to regulate the provisions on weapons and nuclear materials and ensure the Kingdom of Bahrain’s compliance to all obligations as stipulated in international conventions, treaties, initiatives and the relevant Resolutions of the Security Council. The second related to establishing a legislative framework for the prohibition of biological weapons. It related to the adherence to the conventions to which the nation is a signatory, she added. The Kingdom of Bahrain has acceded to the Biological Weapons Conventions (BWC) under the Emiri Decree No. (9) for the year 1988, as well as the binding UN Security Council's Resolution No. (1540) issued in 2004, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter concerning the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The cabinet also discussed a memorandum presented by the Minister of Transportation, Kamal bin Ahmed, on retrieving from the parliament the previous air transport agreement between the governments of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Czech Republic, the Minister said, noting that the ministry planned to sign a new agreement in line with the latest developments in air transport. The decision to retrieve the draft agreement from the legislative authority is to make the required updates and amendments, she added. A memorandum presented by the Minister of Transportation on converting a closed corporation agreement to an open corporation with APM Terminals, received cabinet approval, the Spokesperson also said. APM Terminals is the operator of Khalifa Bin Salman Port. The ministry suggested setting a date for the Initial public offering (IPO) to convert the corporation, from a participating closed corporation to a participating open corporation, by the end of the year 2014. A second memorandum submitted by the Minister of Transportation focused on the operators' performance at both sea ports for 2013, she added. The memorandum pointed to an increase in the number of ships coming to the Kingdom of Bahrain in 2013 by 2.4 per cent compared to the year 2012. It also looked at the increase in handling of general cargo by 45 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, and the improvement in the turnaround time for trucks – which reached 37.9 minutes in 2013 from 40.5 minutes in 2012. The spokesperson said that the cabinet had reviewed a draft law on approving the statute of the Statistical Centre of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). AAM W H Q