Pharmacies' profits set to be capped - Gulf Daily News

Email: gdnnews@gdn.com.bh
Crown Prince’s
visit to bolster
By Ahmed Al OmAri
EDUCATIONAL development,
petroleum exploration
and trade opportunities
between Manama and
Tokyo will be highlights
next week during a highlevel
visit to Japan.
His Royal Highness Prince
Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa,
Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Japan ties
Commander and First Deputy
Premier, will meet Japan’s Emperor
among other things, but those details
Akihito to boost business ties and
strengthen bilateral relations.
The Crown Prince will arrive in
n Mr Sumi
at the Press
conference.
will come out later.”
Mr Sumi also hopes the visit would
attract more small and medium enter-
Japan’s culture capital Kyoto on
prises to the Bahraini market, saying
Tuesday, where he will visit several
there are more than 200 Japanese
monuments.
businessmen here working in 20
He will travel to Tokyo the follow-
Japanese-run companies.
ing day to increase trade ties between
“We hope the visit will increase
the two countries, before meeting
business relations and strengthen
Emperor Akihito and government
exports of more small to medium
officials on Thursday.
businesses in Bahrain,” he added.
Details of the trip were revealed by
“In Japan 90 per cent of the coun-
Japanese Ambassador Shigeki Sumi
try’s businesses are small to medi-
during a Press conference yesterday
um and for Bahrain to have a full
at the embassy in Salmaniya.
representation of Japan’s potential
“Following the visit of His Majesty
King Hamad to Japan in April last
year, the Bahrain-Japan relationship
has developed rapidly,” said
Mr Sumi.
“The most important purpose
of this visit is to increase relations
between Bahrain and Japan’s royal
families, because following the
visit of Bahrain’s His Majesty King
Hamad we are moving into a new
era.”
Mr Sumi said three intergovernmental
memorandums of understanding
(MoU) and nine private
business agreements will be signed
during the visit. “Two of the MoUs
are educational – to be signed
between the Education Ministries in
both countries. The first is about the
export of Japan’s libraries and the
associated technologies that have
been developed by the country,” he
explained.
“The second is to introduce a platform
where universities will be able
to teach students about Japan’s technological
developments.
“(The oil and gas exploration) is
a very interesting one as Bahrain
has already had large companies that
have come to explore the potential
for oil and gas, but Japan has developed
a new technology that has found
viable oil and gas in places where
large companies have found nothing.
“This MoU will allow a company
to explore the area, looking for more
untapped resources that will utilise
newer technologies to reach the oil
and gas.
“As for the other nine MoUs there
will be some arrangements between
pharmaceutical companies and universities
in Bahrain to test newly
developed pharmaceutical agents
contribution it needs to attract those
markets.”
Co-operation in political, security
and defence issues will also be up
for talks as the Crown Prince will
meet Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito,
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Foreign
Affairs Minister Fumio Kishida,
and Economy, Trade and Industry
Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.
Mr Sumi also said Japan fully
supported the National Dialogue
designed to find a solution to the
country’s two-year political stalemate.
ahmed@gdn.com.bh
Bahrainis conquer Iron Man
challenge in New Zealand
n Mr Janahi at the finish line
TWO Bahrainis, who took part
in the gruelling Iron Man challenge
in New Zealand, have
completed the race in 14 hours.
Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad
Al Khalifa and Ali Janahi completed
the challenge under the
17-hour cut off time.
Around 1,400 people took
part in the event, which was
held in Taupo in the North
Island, and comprised a 3.8km
swim followed by a 180km
cycling and a 42.2km run.
“We were committed to
make it happen,” said Shaikh
Khalid.
“We decided to take part and
registered for the event last
summer.
“We had a feel of the event
when we participated in the
half Iron Man which was held
in Miami on October.
“Since then, we increased
our hours of preparation while
also trying to balance our other
commitments.”
The men, who both work
at King Hamad University
Hospital’s Information
Communications Technology
(ICT) department, hope to
encourage more youths to be
involved in sports.
“We are planning to share
our experience with people to
encourage them to be involved
in sports,” added Shaikh
Khalid.
“We want more youth to be
involved and perhaps take part
in the Iron Man among other
events.”
Meanwhile, Mr Janahi said
he would jump at the chance
of taking part in the competition
again.
“This is just the beginning
for me,” said the 26-year-old.
“I would like to take part
again and continue training.”
n Shaikh Khalid raising the Bahraini flag at the finish
line
Gulf Daily News
Thursday, 14th March 2013 13
By the way...
REEM ANTOON
The lost art
of proper
behaviour...
Please’, ‘thank you’ and
‘welcome’…somehow these
simple three words among
many others have been lost
somewhere down the years.
Good manners in general seem to
have become a lost art.
We all encounter bad behaviour in
our lives. But lately it seems the
lack of manners has become a
growing phenomenon.
Indeed, common courtesy doesn’t
seem to be so common anymore.
Manners don’t just occur. They are
taught. Children learn how to
behave just like they learn to talk
and walk.
“Any parent can start teaching
manners to children as young as two
and three,” says Lyudmila Bloch,
an etiquette consultant for the New
York City Department of Education
and former etiquette coach at the
Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.
“Young mothers can take a toddler
on a shopping trip and teach them
boundaries, that they can’t just
grab things off the shelves.”
One of the easiest lessons to teach
children is to be kind to others.
My mother always said to me ‘you
should talk to people the way you
want to be talked to and treat them
the way you want to be treated’.
I have tried to go along with that
throughout my life and have been
teaching my children the same too.
Yes we get upset and angry at times
and say things we shouldn’t.
Maybe while in a traffic rage, or
when someone decides to cut in
line when you have been queuing
up for ages.
But it is the good old fashioned
simple manners is what I am
talking about.
The way children are being raised
in today’s households is different
than how it once was.
It feels that youngsters today are not
how they were in yesteryear.
They are less able to say the magic
words of please and thank you and
instead have to be reminded to do
so all the time.
It used to be common practice to
physically discipline a child that
misbehaved.
Today parents are losing their
authority over children and children
are losing respect for their parents.
But, apparently, women appear to
be at the receiving end of more
rudeness and bad manners
than men, according to a Daily
Telegraph online survey.
Almost 2,000 readers answered
questions about manners in
today’s society, and significantly
more women than men believe
good manners are on the decline.
A greater proportion of women
(68 per cent) also think general
standards of honesty are heading
south.
The exclusive Daily Telegraph survey
also found that most people think
standards of honesty and decency
are on the decline.
Being rude is not always intentional.
Sometimes children just don’t
realise it is impolite to interrupt,
or comment on someone on their
large size, or pick their nose.
And in the hustle and bustle of daily
life, the busy parent may not
always have the time to focus on
etiquette.
But I do believe that there needs to
be a continuous reinforcement
of the common do’s and don’ts
of being polite, kind and having
simple manners.
Manners used to be a very important
part of daily life for all people, but
lately, people seem to be shifting
away from ‘proper behaviour’.