The Cabinet’s regular meeting, chaired by HE the Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, on Wednesday hailed His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani's directives to allocate $50mn to support the Syrian refugees and displaced persons who are suffering as a result of displacement and the cold winter weather.
Following the meeting, which was held at the Amiri Diwan, HE Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Dr Issa Saad al-Jafali al-Nuaimi stated the following:
The Cabinet said that the Amir’s directive is part of Qatar's continued humanitarian support to the Syrian people inside and outside Syria to alleviate their suffering and to stand by their side in these harsh conditions.
The Cabinet also paid tribute to the Amir's initiative to establish a fund, sponsored by the African Union, to cover the costs of evacuating irregular African immigrants in Libya to their countries and reintegrating them into their communities as well as contributing $20mn to this fund.
The Cabinet affirmed that this initiative reflects the Amir’s keenness in the issues of development and peace in African countries and in the stability of their people, calling on the international community to support this fund and to work with the African Union to end the suffering of those African migrants and provide them with a decent life.
Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting also welcomed the results of the second Qatar-US Strategic Dialogue held in Doha on January 13, 2019, under the chairmanship of HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, and the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, with the attendance of senior officials from both countries, during which many aspects of the strong bilateral relationship were discussed, including co-operation in the fields of regional security, defence, education, culture, law enforcement, anti-terrorism partnerships, trade co-operation, energy and labour.
The Cabinet commended the positive atmosphere during the dialogue sessions and the fruitful discussions that took place during it, praising at the same time the signing of agreements and the memorandum of understanding, as well as the joint communique which included a common desire to develop and strengthen bilateral relations in various fields in order to serve the interests of both countries and the stability and prosperity of the region.
The Cabinet also hailed Qatar for being the safest country among Arab countries and globally by winning first place in terms of safety and security, according to the annual report of the crime index 2019 issued by "Numbeo", thus maintaining the number one position in the Arab world during the period (2015-2019), as well as achieving first place globally in 2017 and 2019.
The Cabinet stressed that this achievement and global excellence is the result of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani's directives and the success of the comprehensive security strategy of the Ministry of Interior, as well as the efforts of the ministry's employees and the use of the latest information technology in the field of crime control.
The Cabinet then reviewed topics on its meeting's agenda as following:
The Cabinet approved a draft law amending some provisions of Law No. 4 of 2008 on real estate leasing.
The draft law adds some provisions relating to conciliation in criminal cases provided for by the law, and gives the status of law enforcement powers to the competent municipal staff.
The Cabinet also approved the adoption of Minister of Foreign Affairs' decision No 87 of 2016 on forming a permanent committee to study and review the allowances of currency differential and the nature of difficult areas listed in the list of members of the diplomatic and consular corps for 2011.
It also approved a draft memorandum of understanding on the conduct of political consultations on issues of common interest between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Caricom Affairs of the Commonwealth of Dominica, and a draft memorandum of understanding for co-operation in the field of tourism and business activities between the governments of Qatar and Morocco.
Moreover, the Cabinet reviewed the following topics and took the appropriate decisions:
1. The letter of the president of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority on the proposal of amendments to the Penal Code promulgated by Law No 11 of 2004 and the Code of Criminal Procedure promulgated by Law No 23 of 2004 in implementation of the recommendations of the first review session of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
These amendments aim to further advance the State's position on international indicators related to integrity, transparency and the fight against corruption.
2. The letter of HE the Chairman of the Planning and Statistics Authority and Chairman of the Permanent Population Committee regarding the Committee's report on the "status of the population of Qatar 2018".
3. The letter of HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry on the results of the third periodic report on the work of the technical committee to study the international reporting indicators regarding the business environment in the State of Qatar during the period from 1/7 to 30/11/2018.
4. The letter of HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry on the results of the 34th Session of the OIC Economic and Commercial Cooperation Committee (COMCEC) (Istanbul, November 2018).