King Abdullah chairs Cabinet session (4/16/12)
April 16, 2012
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz began the weekly Cabinet meeting at his residence in Rawdhat Khuraim today with a briefing on his latest consultations with foreign leaders, including talks he held with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyeb Erdogan.After reviewing a number of reports on regional and international developments, the Cabinet renewed the Kingdom’s condemnation of the terrorist bombing that took place last week in the Bahraini village of Al-Aker, injuring seven policemen.
The ministers also expressed disapproval over the visit made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the United Arab Emirates’ island of Abu Musa, which is currently occupied by Iran. They characterized the act as a violation of the UAE’s sovereignty and detrimental to the efforts being made to find a peaceful settlement to the issue through direct negotiations or international arbitration.
Conversely, the Cabinet welcomed the U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the deployment of an international observer mission to oversee a ceasefire in Syria. It underscored the importance of expediting the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in a way that ends the violence and guarantees the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians.
The Cabinet then discussed a number of domestic issues, including the Forum on Family Cases in Islamic courts, which was organized by the Ministry of Justice as part of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Project to develop the judiciary sector.
Addressing its remaining agenda items, the Cabinet approved the Arab Agreement to Combat Information Technology Crimes; authorized the President and the head of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Commission for Wildlife to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the Preservation and Management of Sea Cows; and approved the appointment of Saleh Al-Rasheed as Acting Director General of the Industrial Cities Commission and Technology Fields on the Board of Directors of the Saudi Industrial Development Fund for the remainder of his predecessor’s term.
The Cabinet approved the appointments of Jamal Al-Mulhem as Undersecretary of the Mayor for Reconstruction and Projects at the Eastern Province Governate (15th rank); Sultan Al-Sudairi as Assistant Undersecretary for Security Affairs at the Jazan Governorate (14th rank); Suleiman Al-Tuweijiri as Director General of Customs of the King Fahd Causeway at Saudi Customs (14th rank); Saad Al-Sayyari as Director General of the Minister’s Office at the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology (14th rank); Amer Al-Dossari as Director General of the Assir Branch of the General Presidency for the Commission of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (14th rank); and Abdullah Al-Qurashi as Director General of the Financial Affairs Department at the General Secretariat of the Cabinet (14th rank).
