King Abdullah chairs Cabinet session (9/12/11)
September 12, 2011
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz chaired the Cabinet session held at Al-Salam palace in Jeddah today. At the outset, the King thanked God Almighty for allowing Muslims to successfully fast during the holy month of Ramadan. Furthermore, he expressed appreciation for the efforts of all those who assisted pilgrims in their performance of Umrah (minor Hajj). Then, King Abdullah briefed the Cabinet on his latest contacts with foreign officials, including meetings with Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and Afghan President Hamid Karzai and messages exchanged with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.After listening to a number of reports on the latest developments in the Arab world, the Cabinet renewed the Kingdom’s call for an end to bloodshed and a return to wisdom in order to preserve the security, stability and unity of Arab nations. The ministers welcomed the final statement issued by the 120th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Foreign Ministerial Council session on Sunday calling for a just resolution to problems throughout the region.
The Cabinet also hailed the statement issued by members of the United Nations Security Council on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks against the United States and stressed the importance of concerted international efforts to combat terrorism, which threatens world peace and security, and to eradicate its roots.
On the domestic front, the Cabinet congratulated the students of Saudi Arabia on the advent of a new academic year.
Turning to its remaining agenda items, the Cabinet authorized the Crown Prince to sign a draft cooperation agreement in the field of industrial defense with Turkey; authorized the Second Deputy Prime Minister to renew for another three years the memberships of Dr. Nasser Al-Rasheed, Mohammed Jamil, Abdullah Bahamdan, and Saud Al-Duwaish on the National Committee to Combat Drugs; authorized the Foreign Minister to sign a draft agreement establishing the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Global Center for Dialogue among Followers of Religions and Cultures with several countries, including Spain and Austria, as well as with international organizations; approved the financial regulations of the cultural activities of the Ministry of Culture and Information; approved the amendment of articles (6) and (8) of the system of the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF); and approved the addition of a representative of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to the National Committee for Geographic Information Systems
