The head of Strategic Planning & Quality Management at the Works Ministry, Eng. Raja Al Zayani, has participated in the 1st Gulf Conference for Strategic Planning, which was held at the Sofitel Hotel under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa and organised by the Bahrain Society for Strategic Planning.
Al Zayani explained that the conference aimed at enhancing the understanding and concepts of strategic planning. In her paper, she highlighted the definition of strategic planning and supported that by bringing into focus the Ministry of Works’ model in strategy management.
Around 250 persons from Bahrain and the region participated in the event.
“Strategic management is no longer an administrative system only, it has become a lifeline for nations who seek to build a better future by determining their objectives and what they look forward to achieving to realise that particular objective within a clear context that builds trust amongst society components and reflects positively on the nation’s credibility,” said Al Zayani.
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) announced that despite challenging market conditions it was able to deliver higher value-added sales volume.
For the full-year of 2012, sales figures remained almost stable at 890, 291 metric tonne compared to 893,020 metric tonne in 2011. Sales figures for the fourth quarter of 2012 stood at 225,739 mt versus 227,042 metric tonne for the same period of 2011. Alba closed 2012 value-added (VA) sales with an average of 65 per cent versus 62 per cent in 2011 while sales for Q4 2012 represented 64 per cent of the total shipments as compared to 52 per cent in Q4 2011.
The company achieved a record production in 2012 reaching 890,217 metric tonne which was a jump of 8,907 metric tonne as compared to 881,310 metric tonne in 2011.
With the signing of the “National Occupational Standards” project convention between the Ministry of Labour, the Supreme Council for Vocational Training and German Society for International cooperation (GIZ) in October 2012, the project entered its implementation phase bringing it a step closer to realisation.
The project, to be implemented over a period of 24 months, aims at creating the required mechanisms to develop professional standards for jobs in all sectors in Bahrain.
In the long term, the project aims at achieving a number of objectives, namely matching skills with labour market requirements and minimising the use of foreign manpower. It also aims at enhancing the efficiency of workers in Bahrain’s labour market, encouraging employment of local manpower, improving the wages system, promoting career development and boosting individual demand on vocational education.
The National Occupational Standards project will start with putting professional standards for 125 existing professions, taking into consideration the priorities of those professions as determined by the Supreme Council for Vocational Training and its partners in six different sectors, namely retail, hospitality, industry, construction, banking and information and communication technology.
Arabian Gulf University (AGU) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japanese pharmaceutical company SBI to start clinical studies in Bahrain on patients with diabetes.
The move comes after preliminary studies proved the ability of the new product in lowering blood sugar level in a patient.
AGU president Dr Khalid Al Ohaly affirmed the importance of the cooperation for developing further medication and modern medical technologies.
tion as a leading professional organisation providing quality service.