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Ministerial Development Council discusses procedures related to addressing economic effects of coronavirus

During its meeting today, the Ministerial Development Council presented the recommendations of a temporary committee in charge of addressing the negative effects of coronavirus on all sectors of the national economy.

The meeting, which was chaired by H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, also discussed several proposed government procedures.

The recommendations included a set of proposed measures to reduce the effects of the coronavirus on employment and business, along with ways of maintaining business continuity and providing additional incentives to the national economy, in cooperation with relevant authorities.

The council also explained the details of a national programme to enable innovators in the cultural sector to respond to the current health crisis and its implications and discussed the suspension of certain administrative fines for those practising media activities, as part of the incentives and initiatives that aim to support economic growth.

The council then presented the federal government’s project support policy, which aims to clarify the controls and standards for approving projects to receive support.

During the meeting, the council also discussed the policy of the Ministry of Justice concerning the Judicial Training Institute, which aims to enable the institute to raise the capacities of the national judicial system.

The meeting’s agenda included discussing a policy to raise youth awareness of the basics of constructing houses, which contains information on how to request grants and loans from relevant government authorities.

In terms of organisational affairs, the council discussed the possibility of increasing custom fees on rebar and iron imports from 5 percent to 10 percent for one year, which will have a positive impact on the economy on local, regional and international levels.

The council also reviewed the recommendations of the Federal National Council, FNC, on the policy of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and several reports, including a report on cancelling the higher education foundation year.