UNDER THE THEME OF ‘THE BAHRAIN-FRENCH TOWN PLANING INITIATIVE’

WORKS MINISTER SIGNS A MEMORANDUM OF

UNDERSTANDING WITH EXPERTISE FRANCE

HE the Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs & Urban Planning Eng. Essam bin Abdulla Khalaf signed a memorandum of understanding with Expertise France; an initiative considered as the fruit of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s visit to the President of the Republic of France on August 28^th 2014, during which he requested to work further with France to provide technical assistance to implement the Bahrain-French Town Planning Initiative and improve infrastructure in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Bahrain is planning to expand its towns by benefitting from the International French expertise and attract mega French companies as part of long-term agreements aiming to ensure efficient urban planning and implementation.

The signing of the MOU was attended by the French Ambassador to Bahrain H.E. Mr. Bernard Régnauld-Fabre, Director of Structural Planning of the Urban Planning Directorate Khalid Al Ansari and a number of officials from Expertise France.

The Minister stated that the memorandum aims to form a French-Bahraini team responsible for improving planning and infrastructure in urban areas in order to expand Bahraini towns; by benefitting from the expertise of French companies in accordance with long-term agreements.

The initiative has taken into account the official mission in December 2014 of Ms. Viora, French expert in town planning, mandated by the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Sustainable Development, who met Bahraini Governments and Stakeholders in charge or indirectly related to land use and urban planning;

Also, the role of Expertise France as technical agency for international cooperation of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance has been considered.

The Minister expressed interest in further cooperation between the two nations in relation to urban planning projects. He also expressed pride at the Bahrain-French Town Planning Initiative, which centres around two main points. Firstly, to improve the performance of the Urban Planning General Directorate; including re-structuring the directorate, providing training programs and improving staff performance and competencies. Secondly, to target the urban planning strategy by providing human, information and technical expertise.

The French Ambassador in Bahrain extended thanks to the Minister for supporting the Bahraini-French collaboration and expressed interest in further cooperation on various levels.