Shafaq News / The Council of Ministers held its second regular session, on Tuesday 12 May 2020, headed by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

The Prime Minister opened the session with a speech in which he stressed that this government is the government of difficult challenges, the most important of which is the economic challenge, fight poverty and unemployment among young people, the fair distribution of wealth, calling on ministers and government officials to stay away from courtesies, favoritism, political interference and work to develop state institutions rather than political action.

The Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment to protecting the right to demonstrate and not tolerating any aggression against them, and that the government aims to achieve their legitimate aspirations.

We are working to save what can be saved, confront crises and diversify the state’s resources, he added.

Regarding the work of the armed forces, his Excellency stressed that the heroic army and security forces have endured a lot, and the prestige of the military and security institutions must be restored.

The Cabinet issued a number of decisions, including: -

1. Reducing and rationalizing the administrative structures of the state by providing each government agency with its vision in this field.
2. Take appropriate measures to legislate the laws required for the success of the E-government, and for ministries and government agencies to expedite their procedures to automate their work, especially in the area of ​​customs and tax, and provide monthly reports on their rates of submission to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
3. Re-study of the draft laws related to fighting corruption, by activating the measures to combat it and strengthening their effectiveness, and emphasizing on strengthening the role of the institutions concerned with that from the Integrity Commission and the Federal Financial Supervision Bureau in coordination with the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
4. Emphasizing on the freedom to exchange information and the right to obtain it by expediting the legislation on the right to obtain information.
5. Assigning the Ministry of Planning in coordination with the concerned authorities to review instructions for implementing government contracts to ensure updating of the approved standards in the awarding of tenders, and also to update the approved standards in selecting investment projects.
6. Providing the Federal Service Council with the appropriate staffing for taking its role and exercising its duties.
7. Agreeing that the Reconstruction Fund for areas affected by terrorist operations implement mobile hospitals to quarantine and treat patients with Corona in the regions that are agreed with the Ministry of Health and the provinces through the grant provided by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through the German Development Bank of (15,000,000) Fifteen million Euros.
8. Accelerate the legislation of the general budget law, in line with the requirements of the financial situation, the low level of the oil price, and diversify the budget sources.
9. Urging the Ministry of Oil to expedite the completion of the draft oil and gas law.
10. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, in coordination with the Ministry of Planning and the Ministry of Finance to study the expansion of the base covered by the Social Protection Law by improving the inclusion mechanism through demographic targeting by adopting poverty and social research data as the study must be presented within a period of one month.

11- Forming an emergency cell for financial reform, forming a cell to manage the financial situation in light of the current financial crisis and setting the necessary solutions to achieve financial reform and improving the performance of financial institutions.

The cell is headed by the Prime Minister and he has the authority to authorize the Minister of Finance to conduct the sessions in his absence and the membership of the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Planning, the Governor of the Central Bank, the Prime Minister’s advisers named by Al-Kadhimi, the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, and a representative of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.

The cell undertakes the following tasks: -

1- Ensuring the provision of financial liquidity.

2- Take decisions regarding financial reform by rationalizing spending, organizing resources, and reforming financial institutions, including restructuring them.

3- Establishing financing plans for the reconstruction, development and investment projects, including financing resources and mechanisms outside   government spending.

4- Improving procedures and automating systems in financial institutions.