Minister of Information, H.E. Mustaf Duhulow during his weekly media briefed on progress of the government today talked about the importance of export of resources, legislation on National Procurement, Garowe meeting, Prime Minister's visit to line ministries, the progress on stabilization, the establishment of ministerial sub-committees, and the development of Somali Media.

The Minister emphasized the importance of exporting Somali national resources; he said "Increased export of national resources will boost economic development in the country. This week 78 tons of bananas were exported from Mogadishu port to Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. This is a test case, which will hopefully encourage Somali farmers to develop their potentiality and will contribute increase in economic activities in the country.”

Minister also spoke on the cabinet approval of National Procurement Legislation and said that the legislation will soon be forwarded to the parliament. The Ministry of Finance prepared this important legislation, which will assist improved accountability and transparency on all procurement processes. The process will be transparent and fair to all citizens or companies willing to supply government and those applying project implementation in Somalia. The Ministry of Finance has been involved in transforming the public finance management as the government is committed to good governance and to fight against all sorts of corruption practices in the country.

The Minister briefly talked about Garowe Meeting on 21 May, he stated that two ministers from the federal government; Minister of Planning and Minister of Higher Education attended the meeting between Puntland authority and donor communities. He also, stated that the Federal Government is committed to increase engagement with all regions and advocating the urgent need to providing necessary projects to local communities and can help create job for the Somali people.

The Minister also spoke on Prime Minister’s visit to different ministries and said "The Prime Minister has been visiting this week ministries as part of his good governance initiatives to monitor and evaluate the progress of the government. The cabinet is committed to ensuring that this year 2014 is the year of action and delivery. The cabinet has prepared its work plan, which the Prime Minister presented at the parliament with the aim of showing transparency, accountability and to provide basic services to the people.”

Minister Duhulow speaking on the progress of the stabilization process said "Stabilization Plan is progressing very well. We have achieved to have partnership working between communities and security institutions, which resulted an improvement in security in Mogadishu and other regions. As a result security apparatus prevented serious attacks from extremists. Our security forces recently killed Al-Shabaab members during a fight near Qoryoley district. Our security forces also removed all check-points between Afgoye and Merca districts. As you have seen the President has been making an un-announced visits to different parts of Mogadishu at night times and had discussions with ordinary people on streets to find out their feedback and how they see the security situation in the country.”

The Minister highlighted the importance of the ministerial subcommittees appointed by the Prime Minister and said "Somali Prime Minister has recently appointed sub-committees in the cabinet which include Politics, National Security, Economic Development, Social Affairs, and Development of services. The aim is to enhance the coordination between ministries and the parliament. This initiative will boost the action and delivery of the government plans. These sub-committees will address their respective areas of work and all initiatives presented to the cabinet will have to be discussed first at the subcommittee level.”

Minister Duhulow concluded his weekly press conference by speaking on the media development in Somalia and said "Finally this week has been very positive for Somali Media Development, as some of media workers received training to enhance their skills in the ministry. The Somali Media Academy concluded an important and timely course on script writing of radio programs. 138 journalists received their certificate after successfully passing the module which included script writings for radio news and all programs.

The Ministry of Information pointed-out that Somali National Media Law review committee is finalizing the review consultation process of the draft of media law with key stakeholders including private media and civil society groups. We will soon present the media law to the cabinet for discussion and approval. The Ministry is giving high priority on enhancing the capacity of media workers in Somalia.”

END

Ministry of Information 
Mogadishu, Somalia