Present at the meeting were Lt.-General Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior and Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs.
The cabinet passed a memorandum raised by the Federal National Council regarding the policy for the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT).
The cabinet also gave its nod for the UAE admission to the Convention on Temporary Admission (the Istanbul Convention).
The Agreement aims to facilitate temporary admission by simplifying and harmonising procedures through the adoption of standardised model papers as international customs documents with international security, thereby contributing to the development of international trade.
Temporary admission without payment of customs duties is established to minimise the costs of border crossing and provides an important incentive for the development of a country’s economic activity.
The Convention provides for the free movement of goods across frontiers and their temporary admission into a customs territory with relief from duties and taxes. It also requires contracting parties to accept the ATA carnet, an international customs document that assures through an international guarantee system that duties and taxes will be paid in cases of misuse.
The ATA carnet is now the document most widely used by the business community for international operations involving the temporary admission of goods.
The cabinet also gave the green light for drafting two bills on workers of ancillary service and on food. It approved a bill that regulates relationship between UAE diplomatic missions abroad and their technical attaches.
A visa waiver agreement between the UAE and Russia for holders of diplomatic passports was also given the go-head signal. During the meeting, the 2010 budget of the Federal Insurance Authority was passed.
