Government Entities Merged

Several government entities and authorities have been either merged or cancelled by a ministerial decision issued yesterday,

as part of the government’s efforts to limit expenditures in official authorities. 

This was announced by Information Affairs and Shura Council and Parliament Affairs Minister and Official Government Spokesperson Isa bin Abdulrahman Al Hammadi yesterday following the

Cabinet’s weekly session at Gudaibiya Palace.

addressing the post-Cabinet Press conference Mr. Al Hammadi said that the Cabinet has decided to

merge the Central Informatics Organisation (CIO) and the Electronic Government Authority

(eGovernment). The new entity will be known as the Information and Electronic Government

Authority.

The minister also announced that the Bahrain Conventions and Exhibitions Authority and Tourism

Affairs have been merged to create Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority. The new authority will

be supervised by Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayid Al Zayani.

Mr Al Hammadi confirmed that “the jobs of the employees working in the newly-merged authorities

won’t be affected by the decision.” He assured that “the workforce isn’t included in the Government’s

cost-cutting plans.”

However, he hinted that the employees could be shifted among different departments within the

authorities, in accordance with the norms of the Civil Service Bureau (SCB).

As per the recently announced decisions, the dissolution of the General Organisation of Youth and

Sports (GOYS) has been confirmed. GOYS’s tasks and obligations are now referred to Youth Affairs

and Sports Ministry.

A similar decision to scrap the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) and to handle its tasks to

the Supreme Council for Health (SCH) was also confirmed yesterday.

Another governmental entity that will no longer exist is the Supreme Council for Vocational Training.

The Cabinet decided that the tasks of the council would be referred to the Labour Fund (Tamkeen).