Cabinet congratulates outstanding students

Manama, Jun. 4 (BNA): His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, chaired the regular weekly Cabinet session, at the Gudaibiya Palace today. Premier congratulates outstanding students HRH Premier extended warmest congratulations to outstanding students, and all those who passed the final exams for this academic year, wishing them successful academic and professional careers, a post-session statement by the Cabinet Secretary-General, Dr. Yasser bin Isa Al-Nasser, said. While commenting on a report presented by the Education Minister on the results of first session of the General Certificate of Secondary Education, the General Certificate of Technical Education and the General Certificate of Intermediate Education, the Prime Minister gave directives to the Education Ministry to carry on its development programmes for the best interests of the students, and in order to support the development march in the kingdom. Ministers requested to follow up on development projects in towns, villages The Prime Minister instructed service ministers to follow up on the progress of projects which had been decided following their field visits to villages and towns, upon his directives, to identify their needs and provide the necessary services, facilities and infrastructure, and to ensure that they are completed according to schedule. HRH Premier also gave directives to develop internal roads and their infrastructures in villages, and to rehabilitate streets leading to them according the highest quality levels to serve the citizens there. Ministry urged to regulate street ads The Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning to activate control campaigns on the street advertisements to ensure their compliance with the terms and conditions, remove the expired ads, verify that their contents are commensurate with the speed on the street, make sure that their size does not affect the aesthetic aspects or block users’ vision and ensure that they are in line with the latest developments in the advertising market. Fruit, vegetable imports from Kerala temporarily banned  The session requested the competent authorities to ban the importation of fruits and vegetables from Kerala, India, following the outbreak of the “Nipah” virus there, until the epidemic situation there is back to normal. The cabinet was informed, through a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Health, about the necessary precautionary measures taken by the Health Ministry in cooperation with the competent authorities to ensure prevention from the Nipah virus, including monitoring and control at ports and the examination of human samples, as well as about preparations for the epidemiological surveillance programme. Effective measures to address power outages urged  The Prime Minister gave instructions to quickly provide alternatives and generators that produce energy to people during power outages in their areas to spare them potential difficulties, especially in summer or during the holy month of Ramadan, as well as to take effective measures that ensure quick return of electricity after outages.  In this regard, the Minister of Electricity and Water Affairs stressed that the Electricity and Water Affairs Authority (EWA) spares no effort in providing electricity and water services to all areas, and constantly fixes some rare interruptions in record short time. 10-year self-sponsorship residency permits for foreign investors endorsed  The session endorsed a draft-law on amending some provisions of Edict 74/2007 on granting residency permits to foreigners on a self-sponsorship basis. Based on the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, to the Minister of Interior, the bill, presented by the same minister, aims to extend the residency permits for foreign investors on self-sponsorship basis from two years now to a renewable 10-year period. Under the bill, two-year, five-year and ten-year self-sponsorship residency permits shall be issued for foreign investors at BD 200, BD 400 and BD 600, respectively. BTI’s trainees’ rights ensured  The session decided, based on a presentation by the Minister of Education, that students at the Bahrain Training Institute (BTI) should pay their fees according to the course and not according to a training year, and therefore, a student’s failure to pass a course does not entail paying full annual fees as is currently the case. The move aims to reduce the burden on BTI students, as well as to preserve their rights. The session endorsed BTI’s fees, as highlighted in the Education Minister’s memorandum.  Follow-up on bilateral, multi-lateral agreements, MoUs implementation progress urged The cabinet requested all ministries and state departments to activate agreements, memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and executive programmes signed between Bahrain and brotherly and friendly countries, in addition to international organisations in order to optimise the kingdom’s trade, economic and political benefits from them. The move is in line with Bahrain’s keenness on enhancing bilateral and multilateral cooperation with various countries and organisations. The session endorsed the prepared classification and categorisation of the agreements, MoUs and executive programmes, and referred them to 21 ministries and government departments, and requested them to identify their implementation progress, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as recommended by the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs. Consolidated financial statement of the Future Generations Reserve Fund approved The cabinet approved the audited consolidated financial statement of the Future Generations Reserve Fund for the fiscal year ending on 31 December 2017, and decided to refer it to the Legislature. The consolidated financial statement, included in the memorandum submitted by the Minister of Finance, highlights the total assets of the Future Generations Reserve Fund, as well as its investment returns and oil contributions to it.  The minister’s report showed that the value of revenues of the Future Generations Reserve Fund have, for the first time, exceeded the value of oil contributions, which was welcomed by the cabinet.  MoU on Bahraini-French security cooperation discussed The session discussed an MoU between Bahrain’s Ministry of the Interior and its French counterpart on security cooperation and coordination between them in combating terrorism and its financing. Presented by the Minister of Interior, the MoU was referred to the Ministerial Committee for Legal Affairs. Bill on amending law on regulating advertisements referred to Legislature The cabinet reviewed a draft-law on amending the law on regulating advertisements, which was prepared based on a proposal by the Council of Representatives. The bill was referred to the Representatives Council, along with a memorandum highlighting the government’s opinion on it.