Bahraini minister: Last session of National Dialogue was positive, fruitful

Minister of Education, Dr. Majid Bin Ali Al-Nuaimi highlighted that the last session of the National Consensus Dialogue called for by HM the King in July 2011, which included representatives for the parties of the negotiation table was fruitful and positive, because it was serious and practical. Dr. Majid said that the session resulted in forming a common vision and a unified formation for the collective principles, values and constants which will be the foundation that constitute the outline of the dialogue and push it forward towards national consensus between all interlocutors, which include representatives from the government, the political societies, and independents in the legislative authority. In a special statement for Middle East Newspapers, Al-Nuaimi added that during the session, there was a review of the principles and constants agreed upon in former sessions, and the paper submitted by the five societies in regard of the same issue was discussed, where the team was keen to review such principles and compare them with what has been agreed upon before either by integration, approving or amending. On the other hand, Al-Nuaimi highlighted that during the previous general session they discussed the idea of the consultative meeting between a number of the representatives of the parties of the dialogue table, aiming at saving time, convergence of views on the issues raised, where they agreed on that. The minister expected that such agreement would enhance in the next phase, the start of holding consultative sessions, pointing out that what has been discussed in the sessions was not binding until it was approved in the general session. Al-Nuaimi expressed his optimism with the future of the dialogue’s session, stressing that the dialogue is a necessity among brothers even if they have different views, for the executive authority is present, the legislative authority is well-represented, and the political societies are equally represented in the dialogue. Al-Nuaimi believes that the dialogue sessions which were held during the past months were beneficial and necessary for proceeding towards national consensus which will preserve Bahrain and its people from crises, particularly they had an experience in reform that led to positive results. It worth mentioning that the mini national consensus dialogue was formed of eight members who represent the four parties participating in the national consensus dialogue, where the team formulated 21 articles as constants, principles and values of the national consensus dialogue. This step achieved by the teamwork is considered a breakthrough for the march of the national consensus dialogue which accomplished 24 sessions since its launch on February 10th last year, to reach for an agenda of the dialogue to achieve political consensus that would defuse tension in the streets of Bahrain. It is noted that the political opposition societies presented a paper, which included 10 articles as constants, principles and values for the dialogue, while the coalition of the societies presented a paper that included 17 articles, and the two papers were integrated and the repeated items were excluded, where the mini team formed 21 articles. Meanwhile, the government was represented with a teamwork included Minister of Justice Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa, Minister of Education Dr. Majid Al-Nuaimi, and from the legislative authority Abdul Aziz Abel and Sawsan Taqwi. From the coalition of the political national societies were Ahmed Sanad Al Bin-Ali and Khalid Qattan, and from the national democratic opposition societies were Hafiz Ali and Majeed Milad.