Their Excellencies, the Undersecretaries of the Ministries of Social Development of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries held their ninth meeting, today, Tuesday, August 29, 2023, via video conference. The Ministry was represented by Mr. Ghanem bin Mubarak Al Kuwari, Assistant Undersecretary for Social Development Affairs.

During the meeting, the Supreme Council’s decision was reviewed at its forty-first session regarding the unified guiding law (system) for empowering persons with disabilities and the Voluntary Work Law, and the General Secretariat’s memorandum containing the measures taken regarding this issue was reviewed.

The decision of the Ministerial Council was also reviewed in its (153rd) session (Riyadh, September 2022), regarding the protection of moral, religious and family values in Gulf societies, and the adoption of the general framework for the tasks and responsibilities of the Joint Charitable Work Committee in the GCC countries, and the memorandum of the General Secretariat containing the taken procedures.

The committee reviewed the joint Gulf action strategy for women’s affairs in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. It also reviewed the distinguished efforts made by the Supreme Council for Women in the Kingdom of Bahrain to prepare the strategy in cooperation with members of the Permanent Committee for Women’s Affairs in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries with the Gulf Statistical Center, which reviewed the indicators that were developed in the strategy.

The meeting came up with a set of recommendations for the topics on the agenda, to be submitted to Their Excellencies of the GCC countries at their next meeting. Their Excellencies discussed the development of standards for honoring pioneering projects in the fields of social work and the pioneering personality in the field of civil social work and discussed the first initiative of the social development strategy for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.