Ensuring Workplace Safety
Chinese authorities on April 19 demanded solid efforts to ensure workplace safety and resolutely curb major accidents.
Workplace safety should be enhanced as epidemic prevention and control becomes a regular practice, said a circular issued by the Office of the Work Safety Commission under the State Council and the Ministry of Emergency Management.
Local authorities are required to shoulder responsibilities in strengthening safety management while organizing work resumption and production, according to the circular.
The circular also stressed major responsibilities for enterprises and their leaders to guarantee safe production.
Amid efforts to ensure safety services at epidemic-related sites and producers of anti-epidemic materials, measures will be taken to strengthen safety governance of key industries, with emphasis on hazardous chemicals, coal mines, non-coal mines, road traffic, construction, urban operation and other related fields, said the circular.
The circular also required efforts to strengthen on-the-job training and increase reserves of key equipment and materials, and improve the comprehensive rescue capability for major accidents and disasters.
CHINA Cultural Relic Protection
More new technologies including drones, robots and satellite remote-sensing have been used in the safety inspection of China’s cultural relics, an official said on April 17. China is seeing increasing capabilities of safeguarding cultural relics and early warning of potential risks, said Liu Yuzhu, head of China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration.
Noting that theft, illegal excavation and fires are major threats to the safety of cultural relics, Liu added that the administration has also been cooperating with the police to carry out campaigns to crack down on relevant crimes.
SOMALIA Tax Exemptions for Food
Somalia’s Ministry of Finance on April 15 announced tax exemptions for basic commodities as part of measures to cushion citizens from economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finance Minister Abdirahman Duale Beileh said the 100 percent tax exemptions for rice and dates will help ease the cost of living for the vulnerable populations due to economic hardship sparked by new measures introduced to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
Beileh said in a statement that 50 percent tax exemptions for wheat flour and cooking oil, which took effect on April 15, will help cushion citizens against an increase in prices of consumer goods ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.
CHINA Renovation of Old Communities
China will intensify the renovation of old urban residential areas in 2020, with 39,000 communities to be renovated, benefiting around 7 million households, according to the country’s top housing regulator.
Major renovation work will be done in communities built before the end of 2020 to improve supporting infrastructure, the environment and the quality of public services, such as elderly and child care, said Huang Yan, Deputy Minister of Housing and Urban-rural Development.
Renovation should be implemented in an orderly manner and in accordance with the wishes of residents, while project quality and construction safety should be emphasized, Huang said.
China renovated 19,000 old urban communities last year, providing convenience to 3.52 million households, statistics showed.
EGYPT Creating Job Opportunities
Egypt’s Ministry of Finance announced on April 16 that public investments will be increased by nearly $633 million to create more job opportunities.
“The move is aimed at paying the dues of contractors and suppliers and upgrading the quality of services introduced to the public,” Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said in a statement.
The minister added that Egypt’s economic reform program, which has been adopted since 2016, helped in mitigating the impact of the coronavirus.
He highlighted “the government’s keenness on supporting the economy’s various sectors to keep the production cycle operating along with applying the preventive and precautionary measures.”