Vice Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques discusses regional developments with Bahrain’s king

Vice Custodian reveals in cabinet’s session consultations and discussions results with some worlds’ leaders concerning region and world status

Prince Sultan receives message from Philippines President; meets Palestinian ambassador to the Kingdom

Vice Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz received in Jeddah King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain and his accompanying delegation.

The Vice Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques held a banquet in honor of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and his accompanying delegation.

The reception and the banquet were attended by Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Minister of Interior; Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, the Minister of Bahraini Royal Court, and a number of princes and sheikhs.

The Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet's session held at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.

At the outset of the session, the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on the talks, consultations, meetings and contacts made during the last days with leaders and officials of a number of countries and international organizations on developments of events in the region and the world.

In a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the session, the Minister of Economy and Planning and Acting Minister of Culture and Information Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Gosaibi said that the Cabinet praised the depth of relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar as well as the keenness of the leaderships of the two countries to consolidate and strengthen the relations in various fields.

The statement pointed to the visit recently paid to the Kingdom by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al Thani, the Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs who was received by the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz and Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Interior Minister.

During the visit, ways of strengthening relations between the two countries were discussed. Also, Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al Thani signed on the completion of the land demarcations between the two countries as well as the establishment of Saudi-Qatari Coordination Council that aims at upgrading bilateral cooperation in various fields in a way that serves the interest of the two brotherly countries and peoples and enhances the march of GCC.

The Acting Minster of Culture and Information pointed out that the Cabinet renewed the Kingdom's condemnation of the serious violations against the Palestinian people by Israeli occupation authorities as well as the raid campaigns which covered Palestinian cities and towns.

The Cabinet renewed the Kingdom's call upon the international community to stand in front of Israeli intransigence and compel the Israeli government to accept the will of the international community to achieve security, peace and stability in the region.

The Acting Minister of Culture and Information said that the Cabinet stressed that it is necessary for the Lebanese People to invest Doha agreement for the benefit of Lebanon and the Lebanese people and to achieve peace through the work of government constitutional institutions, stressing the need for supporting these institutions.

At domestic affairs, the Cabinet hailed the increase of Saudi non-oil exports during the first quarter of this year 2008.

The exports increased by 21% compared with the first quarter of the last year. The value of exports amounted to SR 29666 million.

The Acting Minister of Culture and Information noted that the Cabinet reviewed a number of topics on its agenda and issued the following decisions:

The Cabinet approved a number of procedures pertaining to the controls and standards for measuring the quality and adequacy of the performance of government bodies. Such procedures include:

1- Measuring Government Agencies Performance Center shall be established at the Institute of Public Administration (the first stage).

The Center shall directly be linked to the Director General of the Institute.

The task of the Center will be measuring the performance of government agencies drawing annual performance indicators that reflect their productivity and performance.

The Center shall also measure the current productivity rates of government agencies and the productivity rate changes.

It also shall compare between the performance of the branches of the same government body in terms of productivity and efficiency in addition to preparing reports on the performance.

2- The Centre, in the first phase, shall be reformed by the beneficiaries of its services and the Board of Directors of the Institute.

3- The Center, in the second phase, shall become an independent body on its own and shall be directly linked to the Prime Minister.

The Cabinet approved the Credit Information System.

The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Foreign Affairs -or his deputy- to sign a draft general cooperation agreement between the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the government of the Federative Republic of Brazil.

The Cabinet approved licensing the establishment of Saudi Land Bridge Company (closed joint stock company).

The Cabinet approved the appointment of Ahmed bin Suleiman Al-Rajhi, Khalid bin Abdulrahman Al-Gwaiz, Husain bin Hassan Abu Daud, Salman bin Mohammed Al-Jeshi and Khalid bin Malik Al Ghalib Al-Sharif as members representing the private sector in the Board of Directors of the Saudi Organization for Estates and Technology Zones (SOIETZ) for a period of three years as of 10/07/1429H.

The Cabinet also approved the renewal of membership of Abdulrahman bin Rashid Al-Rashid at the Board of Directors of SOIETZ for the same period.

The Cabinet reviewed the follow-up report submitted by the Ministry of Economy and Planning on the work progress in implementing necessary projects in Jeddah Province to face dengue.

The Cabinet approved a number of transfers and appointments as follows:

1- Transferring Yousef bin Saleh bin Ibrahim Al-Saif from the post of Assistant Secretary General of Civil Service Council at the General Secretariat of Civil Service Council; and appointing him as Undersecretary of the Ministry for Municipal Affairs at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.

2- Transferring Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saud Al-Fayz from the post of Adviser for Region Affairs to the post of Director General of Expatriate Affairs at the Ministry of Interior.

3- Appointing Prince Khalid bin Misha'al bin Saud Al Saud as Adviser for Region Affairs at the Ministry of the Interior.

4- Appointing Munir bin Ibrahim Sheer Mohammed Al-Punjabi as Minister Plenipotentiary (A) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

5- Appointing Abdullah bin Marzouq bin Moeedh Al-Zahrani as Minister Plenipotentiary (A) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has received a message from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of The Philippines.

The message was delivered to the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques by the Ambassador of The Philippines to the Kingdom Antonio Bilyamor during an audience with the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques at Al-Salam palace in Jeddah.

For his part, the ambassador conveyed to the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques greetings and appreciation of the President of the Philippines. In turn the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques sent his greetings to the President.

During the audience, cordial talks were exchanged and issues of mutual concern were discussed.

The audience was attended by Dr. Mishaal bin Abdullah bin Musaed, Advisor to the Crown Prince; and Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem, Deputy Chief of the Crown Prince's Court.

Vice-Custodian of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has thanked Director of King Saud University Dr. Abdullah Alothman and university's staff for their efforts in launching the Chair of Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz for Environment and Wild Life and the First Workshop which accompanied it and which was held two months ago.

In a reply letter to Dr. Alothman, Prince Sultan valued those efforts.

On this occasion, Dr. Alothman thanked Prince Sultan for his support for the university's development programs.

Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received at his office at the Royal Court at Al-Salam Palace Cameroon's Ambassador to the Kingdom Mohamadou Labarang on the occasion of the end of his term of office in the Kingdom.

The audience was attended by a number of princes and officials.

The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who is the President of the higher education council, has approved a number of decisions taken by the council at its 48th session.

Dr Khalid al-Anqari, the Minister of Higher Education, said the council has approved the establishment of seven faculties, including the faculty of the applied medical sciences in Hassa, the faculty of architecture and planning at Qassim university, faculty of languages at Najran university, faculty of administrative sciences and tourism at Ummal Qura university, faculty of engineering in Dawadmi, faculty of computer sciences and information technology for girls in Majma and faculty of engineering at Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic university.

Dr al-Anqari, in statement to SPA, said the council has approved the establishment of an intensive care unit at the faculty of medicine at King Saud University in addition to a number of administrative decisions.

He pointed out that the approval of the King to the decisions embodies the great attention given by him to the educational sector.