Among them is the Albanese visit… Cabinet decision during today’s meeting

A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office received by Alsumaria News said, “Sultanni chaired the 33rd ordinary session of the Council of Ministers, which discussed the overall situation in the country and general issues, as well as a number of important economic issues. In addition to considering the topics included in the agenda and taking the necessary decisions on them, the documents included in the government program and its priorities were discussed.”

With the upcoming visit of Imam Hussein Al-Arbaan, Sultanni reiterated his previous instructions to the ministries and other relevant authorities to “do their utmost to provide the necessary services for the Hussein procession, witnessing the governorates on the roads of tourists to the holy city of Karbala, especially the services provided by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Electricity, Ministry of Oil and Ministry of Transport,” stressing the need to “reduce the procession of officials”. He also stressed the need to reduce the procession of officials and instructed the relevant authorities to audit it, both those responsible for providing services to tourists and those who travel to the purpose of the visit.

The meeting had a wide discussion on the drug problem and its dangers to the youth, families and society, with Sudani stressing that “strict measures must be taken against traffickers” and he also directed all ministries to support the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Interior in dealing with the drug problem. “They should play a greater role and fulfil their national obligations in raising awareness and educating the people about the dangers of this deadly scourge, which has become a major challenge to all aspects of the country, for which realistic plans and programs must be formulated.”

In terms of procedures, the Council approved that “the Ministry of Finance shall allocate one billion dinars per month to the Ministry of the Interior/General Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances for its needs and to the Ministry of the Interior/General Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances. The provisions of the Federal General Budget Act will be transferred, provided that the Ministry of Finance establishes an independent accounting unit in the above-mentioned Directorate, the Ministry of the Interior prepares accounting personnel and orders payments and notifies the Ministry of Finance.”

In line with the Prime Minister’s directive to take serious steps towards economic reforms in all sectors, “the Council of Ministers approved a number of important economic reform decisions to put pressure on government spending and increase state non-oil fiscal revenues.”

Also in the context of economic and financial reforms, the Council of Ministers approved the recommendation of the Council of Economic Ministers (24220 Q) based on the following:

1- Maintain the state contribution to mixed sector companies and do not sell the public sector’s shares in these companies, as the sale would result in losses for the public sector and the real value of the company is much higher than its own book value and its working capital.
2- Instruct government agencies to work on studying the actual situation of the companies they are involved in to ensure the improvement of the actual situation of these companies.
3- It is not permitted to change the state sector’s shareholding in mixed companies for any reason or in any way, including capitalization operations of the company, if this leads to a reduction in the state sector’s shareholding, unless approval is obtained from the Council of Ministers for each case.
4- Require state sector representatives on the board of directors of mixed companies to attend all meetings, especially those involving capitalization-related decisions, to ensure that the state sector’s shareholding in the company is not zero.

In order to support important service projects in the governorates, the Council of Ministers agreed to exclude the company that won the contract (Samawa Water Supply Improvement Project IQ-P33) from the conditions set out in the notification of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers on October 18, 2023. Any winning foreign company is obliged to register a branch in Iraq in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

The Council of Ministers approved “the Ministry of Commerce to build three new grain silos for the storage of grain in the governorates of Najaf, Anbar and Muthanna to increase storage capacity, in addition to the two previously approved silos in the governorates of Wasit, and Kirkuk, by agreement with a company “a reputable international company specialized in this field, and excluding the implementing company from the implementation of the contracting method specified in the government contract instructions.”

The Council of Ministers followed up on the completion of delayed projects, services and infrastructure projects through administrative and financial solutions and adopted a number of decisions in this regard, as follows:

1- Approval of increasing the total cost and reserve amount of the project (renovation and expansion of Imam Ali (PBUH) Hospital in Sadr City/Baghdad).
2- Create a component (creation of classrooms for the university site) and a component (construction of fences and gates for the new site of Messant University) within the project (development and expansion of Messant University) and increase the total cost of the project.
3- Include the project (complementary works of the establishment of an educational department with a bookstore and school furniture in Anbar) as a component of the project (establishment of an educational department) and reduce the cost of this component (establishment of an educational department with a bookstore and school furniture) as the amount of the cumulative cost of the project.
4- Increase in the amount of contract reserves (development work within the Al-Mansour Municipality sector (Al-Mahalla 629 – Al-Jameaa district), cladding + water).
5- Increase the total cost of the project (rehabilitation, development and covering of residential shops and main streets in Baghdad city).

The committee agreed to classify and allocate the construction land (Abbas ibn Firnas Square) located near Baghdad International Airport from the land owned by the Baghdad Municipality and assign it to the Ministry of Transport/General Company for Private Transport management to start work on the development of the said square as part of the preparations for the Arab Summit scheduled to be held in Baghdad next year.

In the area of ​​cooperation in mutual academic training programs for police officers, the Council of Ministers approved amendments to its resolution (No. 24175 of 2024), which include approval of the provision of academic seats to brotherly and friendly Arab countries in the proportion of (10) police academy seats, and (5) higher academy seats, based on the principles of mutual respect and common interests, in accordance with Article (15) of the Police Academy Law (Article 37. amended in 2000), with the Ministry of Interior covering the costs of housing, food and equipment. ”

It was also approved that “after deliberation by the State Council, in accordance with the Constitution and the Law on Sunni Endowment Agencies (No. 56 of 2012), the composition and powers of the Sunni Endowment Agencies in 2024 will be promulgated”, taking into account the opinions of the Legal Department of the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers.