Media institutions' responsible, national role praised

Manama, Feb. 2 (BNA): Information and Parliament Affairs Minister Isa Abdulrahman Al-Hammadi praised the national and responsible role of the media institutions in Bahrain, pointing out their continuous cooperation with the Information and Parliament Affairs Ministry. Addressing the Representatives Council today, he underlined the need to boost coordination in order to enable the newspapers and media institutions to exercise their role in utter impartiality and autonomy. He paid tribute to His Majesty the King for responding to a request by the legislative council in the previous legislative terms to set up a ministry in charge of the youth and sport affairs. He emphasised the importance of this ministry to achieve the aspirations of Bahraini youngsters under the leadership of Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and the support of Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa. The Information and Parliament Affairs Minister said there are lots of programmes in this respect as Bahrain has a distinguished experience at the regional level in organising the youth and sport sectors. "The role of the Youth and Sport Affairs Ministry nowadays consists in mapping out schemes and strategies and organising a wide range of programmes for this important category of the Bahraini community," he noted. He added when the decree was discussed by the specialised committee, the Youth and Sport Affairs Ministry submitted its strategic plans for the next four years in details. "The ministry will respond to all proposals by members of the Representatives Council through the specialised committee," he said. He also explained when discussing a report by the Public Utilities and Environment Committee regarding a draft law on allocating 50% of the investment islands coasts as public coasts that the ministry is working within the framework of 2008 strategic structural plan.