HRH Premier hails Bahrain GP race success

Manama, Apr. 4 (BNA): His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has lauded the success of the 2016 Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix race in terms of organisation, participation and attendance. HRH Premier credited His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, with the outstanding success of the event, stressing that HRH Crown Prince's efforts have consolidated Bahrain's standing in the international sport arena. While chairing the Cabinet regular weekly session, HRH Premier also commended the efforts exerted by ministries and government departments to harness their potential and coordinate in order to ensure the success of the mega international event hosted by the Kingdom. HRH Premier then directed to determine the basic needs of the town of Galali and ensure that there are sufficient sports, education and health facilitates, as well as roads and other services, and tasked the competent sides to follow-up on the matter, Cabinet Secretary General Dr. Yasser bin Isa Al-Nasser said in a statement following the session held at the Gudaibiya Palace today. On labour issues, HRH the Prime Minister issued instructions to focus on new economic sectors that create job opportunities for Bahrainis, urging the anticipation of the Bahraini labour market in the future to ensure its stability and ability to generate job under various economic circumstances. The Prime Minister was commenting on the memorandum presented by the Labour and Social Development Minister to the session on the labour market's indicators in the last quarter of 2015. Figures revealed an annual increase in the overall size of the labour force in the kingdom by 5.5%. They also showed that the number of Bahraini workers in the public and private sectors had reached 158,000. The positive indicators prove the success of the efforts of the government, represented by the Labour and Social Development Ministry, in creating employment opportunities for Bahraini job seekers and ensuring the stability and development of the labour market. In this context, HRH Premier praised the importance of the indicators and statistics provided by the Labour and Social Development Ministry in devising the government's future plans regarding employment and the labour market initiatives. The session then discussed a new draft law on protected cell companies (PCC). A PCC is a corporate structure in which a single legal entity is comprised of a core and one or several cells, depending on the type and nature of the investment. The cells have separate assets and liabilities. PCCs help banks and financial institutions to establish various kinds of investment funds. The draft law on Protected Cell Companies, highlighted in the memorandum presented by the Deputy Premier and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Financial Affairs and Rationalising Expenditure Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, was referred to the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs. The same committee will also have to examine a draft law on amending Law 64/2006 on the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) and Financial Institutions, outlined in another memorandum presented by the Deputy Premier and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Financial Affairs and Rationalising Expenditure. Under the amendments, the Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) will be affiliated with CBB. They also stipulate that CBB will determine the fees levied on services delivered to the financial sectors. They also give more powers to the CBB External Director, including certain legal actions, such as sale or mortgage. The session also discussed a draft agreement between Bahrain and China on mutual exemption from the requirements of visas for the holders of diplomatic and special passports. Under the draft agreements, holders of diplomatic, special or official passports in the two countries can receive free visas, for a maximum period of three months. The draft agreement, included in the memorandum presented by the Foreign Affairs Minister, was referred to the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs. Another draft agreement between Bahrain and Egypt on cooperation in the field of commercial marine navigation, presented by the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, was also referred to the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs. The same committee was also tasked with taking the necessary constitutional and legal procedures to ratify the Air Services Agreement signed between Bahrain and Hungary on January 21. On health, the session approved a proposal by the Ministry of Health on categorising the services and activities of the Public Health Directorate according to the International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC-Rev.4). The Minister of Health was requested to issue the necessary Ministerial Edict in this regard. The cabinet discussed a number of proposals on establishing schools in some regions. They included a secondary girls' school in the Southern Governorate's Eighth Constituency and two primary schools, for boys and girls, in Zayed Town and a second boys' school in Sitra. The cabinet approved the governments' replies to them, as recommended by the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs.