HRH the prime minister chairs the weekly cabinet meeting

Secretary General of the Cabinet, Manama, 23rd of February 2014: His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister, chaired the weekly Cabinet Meeting at the Gudaibiya Palace. After the meeting Dr. Yaser bin Essa Al Naser, Secretary General of the Cabinet, released the following statement: The Cabinet hailed the results of the visit of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain to the Republic of India, describing it as a very successful visit. The Cabinet noted that it gave a strong impetus to the bilateral cooperation between the two countries in all aspects, especially politically and economically. In this context, His Royal Highness the Prime Minister directed all ministries and government agencies to invest in the success of HM the King’s visit to further develop Bahraini - Indian cooperation. The Cabinet emphasized the importance of working on the preservation and maintenance of Human Rights. On the occasion of the arrival of the technical team of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Cabinet welcomed the team and directed all ministries and relevant agencies to cooperate and support the work of the technical team. His Royal Highness the Prime Minister stressed the importance of the responsiveness between the government housing policies and the aspirations of the citizens of access to adequate housing. HRH noted that this requires the expeditious and full completion of housing projects including provision of utilities. In this regard, HRH directed to speed up the completion of a number of housing projects in Zallaq, Jaw Askar and Hamala and hand them over to the beneficiaries immediately after the completion. His Royal Highness the Prime Minister acknowledged the presence of abandoned houses, as well as some in poor condition, that are found in some of the historically older areas of the country, particularly Muharraq, and instructed that upon identifying such houses that quick and effective solutions to this issue be developed. HRH commissioned the Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning in coordination with the Governorate and the municipal councils to oversee this order. The Prime Minister stressed the need to work with all serious effort to enhance the cooperation between the government and Parliament, including the initiative of the Cabinet Ministers to meet with members of the House of Representatives quickly if requested to do so. Then the Cabinet discussed the memorandums on its agenda and took the following actions: First: The Cabinet noted the start of the trial run of the sanitation project in Muharraq that represents a quantum leap in the Kingdom in the field of sanitation. The Minister of Works noted the completion of the construction of the Muharraq sanitation station based on the advanced technology of a network of tunnels across a line with a length of 16 km that extends from Al Busaiteen to the location of the station near the port of Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman. It was noted that the project has a capacity of 100 thousand cubic meters per day and can be increased to 160 thousand cubic meters per day and will meet the needs of Muharraq Island until 2030. Second: The Cabinet acknowledged the Kingdom of Bahrain’s advanced position in terms of international competitiveness in the field of building permits for investment projects, which was reflected in the World Bank Report of 2014 where the Kingdom of Bahrain took the first place regionally and fourth place world wide with regard to facilitating the procedures for building permits and reducing the time period required for their processing. The Cabinet acknowledged the breadth of investment projects and equal distribution among the five Governorates which is reflected in the report submitted by the Minister of Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning. Third: The Cabinet approved the reorganization of the Central Informatics and Telecommunications Agency, including renaming the agency the “CIO” (Central Information Organization) . The Cabinet also approved the introduction of two new General Directorates of which each is headed by a Director General of the rank of Assistant Undersecretary. The first is Information Security, and second is common services for Information Systems. In addition four new Directorates were introduced. Fourth: The Cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the area of security between the Ministries of Interior in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Kingdom of Morocco with the aim of exchanging expertise and information that contributes to the fight against terrorism and organized crime. The Cabinet authorized the Minister of the Interior to sign this memorandum.