Bahrain is today in deep mourning following the death of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa in the US yesterday morning.
“By order of His Majesty King Hamad, the Royal Court mourns the Premier who passed away this morning at Mayo Clinic Hospital in the United States of America,” said a statement.
“The burial ceremony will take place after the repatriation of the body, and the funeral will be limited to a number of relatives.
“The King ordered the announcement of an official mourning for a week during which flags will be flown at half-mast.
“Government ministries and departments will be closed for three days starting today.
“May Allah rest the soul of the deceased in eternal peace. From Allah we come and to Allah we return”.
Prince Khalifa was considered an inspiring leader who gave his time and effort in serving his country and its people, leaving a great legacy of wise administration, direction and achievements.
He led the development renaissance of Bahrain throughout its modern history which had a great impact on the advanced image the kingdom enjoys in all fields today.
HRH the Premier imbibed the principles of public work since he was entrusted with the membership of some committees that directly touched him.
The lives and needs of citizens, especially in the service and development fields such as education, electricity, municipality, immigration, passports, among others, interested him.
The late leader assumed responsibility of the Education Council in the late 1950s and early 1960s, as well as the Presidency of Government Finance and Presidency of the State Administrative Council, and others, which had the greatest impact on establishing the nucleus of the state apparatus, launching the development process, and laying solid foundations on which Bahrain’s economic renaissance was based.
Prince Khalifa adopted many programmes and plans that helped the country take qualitative leaps, whether in terms of raising the standard of living for citizens or at the level of supporting the state’s infrastructure and its various economic sectors.
In the 1970s, when he was assigned to head the State Council he was entrusted during an important period in the nation’s history the task of leading the government apparatus with success and distinction, and this important council was renamed the Council of Ministers.
During the 1980s and 1990s, as Bahrain paid great attention to development issues, HRH the Premier presided over two councils of oil, economic and other policies which were important qualitative steps to exploit the country’s resources and employ them for optimal benefit for the country and its people.
Under the directives of His Majesty King Hamad, Prince Khalifa worked on issues of raising the standard of living for citizens and continuing to develop the various economic and development sectors, based on an important pillar, which are the visions and aspirations of His Majesty.
The success of Bahrain during the last two decades in achieving the Millennium Development Goals ahead of schedule in 2015 was commended as also achieving the 17 sustainable development goals adopted by the UN.
The achievements of the Premier during the past decades have been characterised by a kind of complementarity and interconnection in economic and social affairs, which reflects not only the great strides that Bahrain has made in its path for development work, but also in order to meet the needs of its citizens and residents on its land in a true translation of the efforts made on this level.
With the success of the Bahraini development model, and global recognition of its value and relevance, the Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa Award for Sustainable Development was launched, which had previously been credited with informing the whole world of the principles, visions and ideas of the late Premier.
The role, achievements and efforts of the late Premier in the fields of development work greatly contributed to the position Bahrain occupies in the comity of nations.
His work was also recognised by a number of awards, the most prominent of which were: The Honour Award for Outstanding Achievement in the field of Urban Development and Housing 2007, the ‘Ibn Sina’ award from Unesco in 2009, the Millennium Development Goals Prize 2010, the Information and Communication Technology Award for Sustainable Development by the International Telecommunication Union, and the United Nations General Assembly endorsement of His Highness’s initiative by announcing April 5 every year to be a Day of Conscience, among others.
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