Saudi’s first robot gets first job at govt entityJeddah
Saudi Arabia’s first robot employee started work at one of the
kingdom’s government entities and has been handed its job ID as
well as his required functions, Arab News reported yesterday.
The robot attended its first meeting on Sun-day morning at the
Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), in the
presence of the kingdom’s Minister of Education Ahmed Al Issa, and
the governor of TVTC Ahmed Al Fahaid.
The new employee Teqany’s job description includes customer
service, conducting surveys and delivering messages. Welcoming the
min-ister in typical robo-voice, Teqany promised to be the perfect
employee, which was met with applause from the minister and his
entourage.
Teqany has also been employed to welcome and usher in visitors
at the 33rd Janadriyah Fes-tival, which opened last Thursday,
during which Saudi Arabia celebrates its heritage and history.
The robot will contribute to serving customers through an
electronic evaluation system, and the delivery of messages to
visitors to exhibitions and activities of the TVTC.
This will help Saudi citizens to benefit from cutting-edge
technology, which will achieve the kingdom’s “Vision 2030” reform
plan, Al Issa said.
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His Majesty orders VAT review during trial phase• The official
urged all consumers to report all VAT violations to the National
Call Centre by giving a ring on 80008001.
Manama
His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has di-rected
competent execu-tive agencies to review the Value Added Tax (VAT)
mechanisms during the trial phase.
HM the King stressed the ne-cessity of heeding citizens’
needs
and exempting basic goods and commodities which affect
citi-zens’ income.
A meeting will be held to-morrow morning with Bahrain Chamber of
Commerce and In-dustry (BCCI) to discuss the Value Added Tax (VAT)
mechanisms during the trial phase.
The meeting follows royal di-rectives issued by His Majesty.
Finance and National Econo-my Minister Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al
Khalifa said that the meeting would be attended by Industry,
Commerce and Tour-ism Minister Zayed Al Zayani.
In this regard, Mr Al Zayani, chaired an emergency meeting with
the Consumer Protection Department on price control pro-cedures and
the exemptions of ba-sic goods and services from VAT.
The Ministry of Industry, Com-merce and Tourism said that it is
keen to strengthen consum-er’s confidence and to promote a more
integrated and stable mar-ket following the implementation
of VAT beginning January 1, 2019, at a standard rate of five per
cent.
The Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic Trade, Hameed
Yousif Rahma, affirmed that the ministry, in co-ordination with
the National Bureau for Taxation (NBT), has implemented
admin-istrative and legal mechanisms aimed at promoting the
principles of a free market to enhance com-petition and
transparency in addi-tion to mitigating unfair practices.
Mr Rahma went on noting that MOIC’s Companies Control
Directorate has intensified its efforts in monitoring the
perfor-mance of all commercial estab-lishments by closely observing
the movement of all goods and service to enhance transparen-cy and
to cultivate a culture of awareness and neutrality that complies
with VAT regulations.
His Majesty
The directorate has implemented consumer
protection measures to prevent collusion,
overpricing and fraudulent commercial activities in addition to
ensuring that VAT is not charged on zero-rated
goods and services. MR RAHMA
The management and staff of The Daily Tribune
wishes its readers a
Projects reviewed HRH Premier directs ministries to speed up the
implementation of developmental projects
• The Prime Minister also gave directives to reduce traffic
congestions in towns and villages by creating additional exits and
expanding streets.
Manama
Th e C a b i n e t s e s s i o n chaired by His Royal Highness
Prime Minis-ter Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa yesterday
reviewed the main developmental pro-jects being implemented in the
Kingdom.
While reviewing the pro-grammes and projects imple-mented across
the kingdom’s villages and towns to provide the
necessary facilities and infra-structure, HRH the Premier gave
instructions to implement plans to build 1,200 housing units in Dar
Kulaib and Hoorat Sanad.
The Prime Minister also gave directives to reduce traffic
con-gestions in towns and villages by creating additional exits and
expanding streets.
HRH the Premier also direct-ed ministries to determine the
service projects that may be im-
plemented in co-operation with the private sector, including the
possibility of the sector’s financ-ing of youth and sports
centres.
Among other things, the Prime Minister gave directives to all
ministries and government entities to follow up on the re-marks
stated in the report of the National Audit Office, and to take
prompt action against financial and administrative vi-olators, if
any.
In this regard, the Premier emphasised the government’s keenness
to consolidate control and auditing in all transactions, and to
firmly address any short-comings that may lead to wast-ing public
money.
The Cabinet expressed its solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the
face of attempts to interfere into its internal affairs, discredit
its leadership or status or un-dermine its sovereignty, citing the
recent resolution of the US Senate that was based on false
allegations.
Within the same context, the session lauded the “responsible
stances” of the US Administra-tion, led by President Donald Trump,
as well as its “commend-able” efforts to promote peace and combat
terrorism through joint action with its allies in the region.
HRH the Premier chairs the Cabinet.
A Saudi official interacts with Teqany at a recently held
expo.
1,200housing units will be allocated soon as per
the Premier’s directives.
The Christmas angel
A young woman dressed in an angel costume participates in a
Parad Nwel (Christmas parade) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
American team to visit Turkey Washington
A US military delegation will visit Turkey this week to discuss
the with-drawal of American ground forces from Syria, President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said on Monday.
“They will discuss how to coordinate (the with-drawal) with
their counter-parts,” Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference in
Ankara after US President Donald Trump’s shock decision last week
to order the pull-out of 2,000 troops.
The US has for years sup-ported the Kurdish-led Syr-ian
Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Daesh terrorist
group in Syria.
UN team head visits Hodeidah PortHodeidah
The head of the United Nations team tasked with monitoring a
fragile cease-fire in the flashpoint city of Hodeidah on Mon-day
visited its lifeline docks, a port official said.
Retired Dutch gener-al Patrick Cammaert also called on Yemen’s
warring sides to respect the hard-won truce agreed this month in
Sweden, Hodeida port deputy director Yehya Sharafeddin said.
