Security comes first for GCC: PM

Manama : His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa yesterday said that the first priority of the GCC was the security and stability of the region as stated in the Riyadh Summit document.

“Everyone should be committed to the Riyadh Summit document that protects the common interests of all the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC),” HRH Premier said, adding that the document has set the tone for a new phase of cooperation between GCC and Arab countries which is in commensurate with the nature of the challenges of the region.

The document has identified the security and economic threats, the Prime Minister said, stressing that departing from this consensus was not acceptable, and that the GCC security and stability need to be placed above everything else.

HRH Prime Minister made the statements as he received senior Royal Family members and senior state officials yesterday.

“The Kingdom of Bahrain and GCC countries do not aim to cause harm to anyone, and all what they seek is to remove any potential risk and put an end to everything that may undermine their security and stability or pose a threat to the safety of their peoples. They also want to silence all sedition and incitement platforms that tend to hide behind the mantle of media or human rights to target the region’s security,” HRH Premier said.

HRH Premier underlined his keenness on developing the government’s services across the villages, stressing that the government is interested in delivering services to villagers to fulfill their needs and expectations.

“We want to see progress in villages, just like cities, while preserving their social characteristics,” HRH Premier said, affirming that ministers are constantly instructed to visit villages to understand the situation, citing his recent directives to ministers to visit Duraz to identify the housing and service needs of the local villagers, and to subject the village to comprehensive overhaul in order to provide all services.

HRH Premier asserted that the infrastructure and road revamp projects, which are set to be inaugurated soon, will support the government’s efforts to ease traffic and reduce congestion, especially with the opening of the junctions in the heart of the capital, a vital artery linking it to the rest of the areas in the Kingdom.