Cabinet approves the setting up of new autonomous organisation
The Cabinet yesterday agreed to merge the Pension Fund and the General Organisation for Social Insurance into a new authority named Social Insurance General Organisation. The new organisation will have financial and administrative autonomy.
The Cabinet took the decision during its weekly session presided over by the Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.
The proposed Social Insurance General Organisation will have a board of directors comprising representatives from the government and private sector, as well as financial and insurance experts who will work under the supervision of the Minister of Finance. The board will chalk out policies and set up a company to invest the savings of the pension funds.
The Cabinet referred the draft law on the organisation to the Shura Council and the Chamber of Deputies.
It also approved four proposals by the Chamber on the establishment of a National Exports Development, on the development of school health programme, on providing air-conditioned buses for schools and on the setting up of a comprehensive short-, medium- and long-term programmes to reinforce religious and moral principles in the Bahraini society. The programmes will be launched by the Ministry of Information.
The Cabinet referred to the Shura Council and the Chamber three draft laws on setting up family consultancy and guidance offices, on amending some articles of the civil and trade pleadings law No. 12 for 1971 to cope with the electronic development and on approving the security cooperation agreement signed with Yemen.
It then discussed the agreement to set up the International Islamic Institution for Trade Funding to bolster economic cooperation between the Islamic countries and referred it to the ministerial committee for legal affairs.
It also discussed an agreement between Bahrain and the Middle East and North Africa Financial Group to combat money-laundering and financing terror, and referred it to the ministerial committee. Then the Cabinet reviewed an agreement to encourage and protect investments between members of the Islamic Organisation Conference and referred it to the ministerial committee. It also referred to the ministerial committee for financial and economic affairs a draft cooperation document between Bahrain and Unicef which aims to improve children's condition in the Kingdom.
It discussed the decision of the Shura Council and the Chamber on two draft laws - on setting up a fund for future generations and on an agreement to delegate the government to purchase equipment on behalf of the Islamic Bank to develop a 220-volt power project.
The Cabinet was briefed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Islamic Affairs on the outcome of his participation in the International Religious Leaders Summit concluded recently in Moscow.
© Bahrain Tribune 2006
