State Minister for Follow-up Affairs Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Mutawa took part in a high-profile meeting of the Steering Group of The Good Governance for Development (GfD) in Arab Countries Initiative, hosted by Paris.
He also took part in a workshop on governmental governance, at an invitation by Moroccan Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in Charge of Public Service and Administration Modernization Abdul Azim Karouj and Director of Public Governance and Territorial Development at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Rolf Alter.
He said Bahrain accords a special concern to GfD in Arab Countries Initiative as it is in harmony with the goals of the royal reform projects to boost the constitutional and institutional state and anchor the principles of democracy, probity, transparency, public freedoms and human rights.
He pointed out Bahrain’s reform steps aimed at developing the performance of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, boost monitoring tools on the government’s work, protect public money and back the development efforts through elected institutions and independent executive bodies.
He said the recent constitutional amendments, recommended by the National Consensus Dialogue in which all social components took part, came to promote the parliament’s legislative and monitoring prerogatives and further boost popular participation in directing the government’s work and monitoring it.
He affirmed that developing the government’s administrative work has gained growing importance in the government’s strategy, under the leadership of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, to ensure commitment to the excellence and competitiveness standards.
The State Minister for Follow-up Affairs cited government initiatives in this respect, including mainly the setting up of Bahrain Centre for Excellence in 2008, the Civil Service Bureau, Bahrain Institute of Public Administration (BIPA) and the eGovernment Authority.
“Bahrain is keen on maintaining contact with all relevant parties in the GfD in Arab Countries Initiative to activate and follow up on the implementation of the initiative as well as consensual recommendations and programmes to bolster the capabilities of Arab countries in developing and supporting good governance,” he said.
He underscored Bahrain’s commitment to the initiative’s goals and programmes by upgrading and reviewing the civil service systems, streamlining administrative procedures, reviewing the organizational bodies of governmental administrations and further developing the e-government.