Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz receives honorary doctorate granted by King Saud University

Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques signs contracts for commercial management of kingdom's int'l airports

Prince Salman opens GCC Youth Leadership Forum

Fifth Annual meeting of Armed Forces' Medical Services Opened

Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by Riyadh-based King Saud University.

He was awarded the prestigious degree during an audience he offered at his office at he Ministry of Defense and Aviation for the Minister of Higher Education Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Anqari; Rector of King Saud University Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulrahman Al-Othman; the undersecretaries of the university and deans of faculties.

Addressing the personnel of the university, the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud expressed thanks to Allah Almighty for facilitating the services rendered to the country and for the efforts being exerted by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in the service of education and citizens.

He lauded the efforts being exerted by the personnel of the university, particularly the work of the Minister of Higher Education and the Director of the University, urging the personnel of the university for more dedication and effort.

Addressing the gathering, the Director of King Saud University pointed out that the support of the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for the university enabled it to occupy the first place among Arab, Islamic, African and Middle Eastern universities, the 8th among Asian universities and the 380th among the world universities, citing Webo Metrix Spanish classification and another Australian classification which put King Saud University first of Arab universities and 27th Asian.

Then the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by King Saud University.

Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques then announced an annual donation of SR10 million for King Saud University.

Prince Faisal bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Secretary General of the Sultan bin Abdulaziz Charitable Foundation has said that donation by Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of SR50 million to the endowment of the research chairs at King Saud University and SR10 million annually for the university is part of the Saudi government support for the development of the Saudi people and the development of education graduates to meet the needs of the kingdom.

In a statement to Saudi Press Agency, he highlighted the programs of the foundation including Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Program for Special Education in cooperation with the Arab Gulf University and the establishment of Sultan bin Abdulaziz City for Human Services.

In a similar statement to Saudi Press Agency, Director General of the foundation Dr. Majid Alqasabi hailed the donation and expressed thanks to the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

Minister of Higher Education Dr Khalid Al-Anqari signed a number of contracts for some universities pertaining to the development of the programs of the student guidance.

The universities include King Saud University; King Abdulaziz University; King Fahd University for petroleum and mineral resources; King Faisal University; King Khalid University; Qassim University; al-Jouf University; Hail University, Najran University and the National Center for Youth Research.

Meanwhile, Dr Al-Anqari denied the reports which said that the Ministry of Higher Education was planning to extend loans to the members of the academic staff.

The project aims at establishing students guidance centers at the Saudi universities for extending guidance services to the students and enabling them to avoid feelings of isolation so as to become productive members in the society.

Minister of Higher Education Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Anqari signed a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Higher Education and Tabuk University.

Under the agreement, the Ministry of Higher Education will help the University to implement the program of the preliminary year for the faculties of medicine, applied medical sciences, engineering and computer at a cost of SR 12 million.

He also signed contracts for implementing housing units for the members of the academic staff at a number of regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at a total cost of more than SR 1.5 Billion.

Under the contracts, a project of housing units will be implemented at King Saud University (at a cost of SR 502 million), Jizan University (SR 548 million), Tabuk University (SR 400 million), and the Islamic University of Madinah (SR73 million).

It is worth mentioning that the Higher Education Ministry has recently signed SR 711,335,900 worth of contracts for implementing housing units for the members of the academic staff at the colleges of al-Muzahmeyah, Al-Kharj and Hafr al-Batin.

Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques received Netherlands' Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange and Chairman of the Advisory Commission of United Nations Secretary General for Water and Sanitation Affairs.

Prince Willem conveyed to the Vice- Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques the greetings of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. In turn, Prince Sultan sent his greetings to the queen.

Prince Willem expressed his pleasure over meeting the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

In his capacity as the Commission's Chairman, he expressed his appreciation of Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz for his efforts represented in the establishment of the award aimed at promoting efforts to achieve water security and issues of water of concern in the world.

The audience was attended by Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Governor of Riyadh region, Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs and Chairman of Council of Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz World Award for Water and a number of ministers and officials.

Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud signed contracts for the commercial management of King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and King Fahd International Airport in the Eastern Region with a total value of SR579.5 million.

The Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques urged the contracts' parties to adhere to the contracts' provisions and cooperate for the aim of achieving the desired goals which will benefit all parties, wishing them every success.

The Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques stressed that the signing of the contracts is an important step toward achieving the strategic goals set for the three airports including improving the services provided to the passengers and airlines to match international standards to attract a fair share of air traffic in the region and to become leading airports in it resulting in their gradual transformation from being government service sectors wholly depending on the state's budget to financially and administratively independent organizations that depend on their investments and revenues which can be increased through following commercial methods like the methods followed by internationally successful airports and then the three airports can be transformed to independent companies owned by the state.

Following the signing of the 6-year three contracts, President of the General Authority of Civil Aviation Abdullah Rahaimi hailed the signing by the Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques as support by the Saudi government for the civil aviation sector.

Vice-Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received Saudi Ambassador-Designate to Switzerland Hazem Mohammed bin Saleh Karkutli and Ambassador-designate to Ireland Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Drees.

During the audience, Prince Sultan sent his greetings to the leaderships of the two countries, urging the ambassadors on strengthening relations between the Kingdom and the two countries and on being the best ambassadors of their religion, homeland and people.

On their part, the ambassadors expressed their pride of the royal trust bestowed upon them.

The audience was attended by Prince Dr. Misha'al bin Abdullah bin Musaed, Advisor to the Crown Prince, and a number of officials.

In Riyadh, Governor of Riyadh region Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, who is also the Honorary President of Riyadh Schools, patronized the inaugural ceremony of GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Youth Leadership Forum.

The five-day forum was organized by Prince Salman Center for Building Leaders at Riyadh Schools with the participation of the ministries of education, and culture and information, as well as the Arab Bureau for Education in the Gulf States (ABEGS); King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue; King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity, and the General Presidency for Youth Welfare.

Prince Salman also opened an exhibition organized on the fringes of the forum.

Speaking on the occasion, the Director General of Riyadh Schools said "the organization of the Forum aims at enabling the youth to acquire experience in the field of leadership."

On his part, Dr Ali Al-Karni, the Director General of ABEGS, said ABEGS is keen on implanting the spirit of cooperation in the hearts of the youth.

In his address on the occasion, Prince Salman thanked Riyadh Schools for enabling the youth to get acquainted with the history of the Arabian Peninsula.

He noted that Islam has unified the Arabs who were fighting each other before Islam.

Prince Salman said "the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia feels honored because it is the country where the Two Holy Mosques are located, and because it is the cradle of Islam.

He urged the youth to adhere to the teachings of Islam, and to try to get acquainted with their history.

The ceremony was attended by Prince Fahd bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, a number of other princes and officials.

Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz received Abdulilah bin Abdullah Al-Musharraf, General Supervisor of GCC Youth Leaders Forum accompanied by number of participants.

At the meeting, Prince Salman commended the efforts of the Forum, which aims to give participants the experience of leadership and creativity through positive interaction with experiences and cultures of students of participating countries as well as highlighted the Saudi leading role for the care of youth development and promotion.

Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Riyadh Region, received at his office in Riyadh Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic university Rector Dr. Suleiman bin Abdullah Abalkhail, undersecretaries and deans.

During the meeting, Abalkhail briefed Prince Salman on the university's activities, and scientific and research programs.

For his part, Prince Salman gave some instructions on how to reach further achievements.

Meanwhile, Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Governor of Riyadh region, chaired a meeting of the sub-committee of the Board of Directors of the Center of History of Makkah and Madinah.

The participants of the meeting reviewed issues pertaining to the Center in the presence of Prince Sultan bin Salman, the Secretary General of the Higher Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, Sheikh Salih al Alsheikh; the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance; Dr Khalid Al-Anqari, the Minister of Higher Education; Sheikh Salih Al-Hussein, the General President of the affairs of the Holy Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque, and Dr Fahd al-Samari, the Secretary General of King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (a.k.a DARAH).

Dr al-Samari said the committee has recommended allocation of a permanent site for the Center at King Abdulaziz endowment near the Holy Mosque of Makkah.

He noted that the Committee had also discussed the issue of allocating a site for the Center in Madinah and recommended formation of a committee for studying the issue and submitting its recommendations to the next meeting of the Center's board of directors.

Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation for Military Affairs opened the Fifth Annual conference of the Armed Forces' Medical Services at Riyadh Intercontinental's King Faisal Hall of Conferences.

On arrival at the venue, Prince Khalid bin Sultan was received at venue by Chief of the Joint Staff General Salih Ali Al-Mohayya as well as Director General of the Armed Forces Medical Services Major General Kitab Al-Otaibi.

Speaking on the occasion, Prince Khalid bin Sultan said this has become one of the renowned scientific events which are being awaited by regional and international medical professionals.

The five-day seventh annual conference on cardiovascular and heart diseases for CT angio/cardiac MRI courses which began on Sunday will, for the first time, have a two-day training workshops to discuss the advance levels of curing heart-related diseases.

The conference, organized by King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, KFSH&RC, (General Organization), is being sponsored in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, US.

According to Dr. Syed Iqbal Rahmatullah, Consultant Adult Cardiologist at KFSH&RC, the conference also focused on an update regarding cardiac capabilities, imaging protocols and clinical applications.

"The CT scan and MRI are becoming more important tests for cardiologists and radiologists. They check the arteries without doing any procedure or operation that’s called angiogram," Rahmatullah said.

The advance cardiac imaging tools are critical in the management of patients with cardiovascular disease, he added.

He said cardiac patients can have easy access to their diagnosis by undergoing a relatively non-invasive test in the form of CT angiogram during the same visit.

A large number of physicians from all across the Middle East and Southeast Asia are attending this course, Mushtaha Shams, the media representative of KFSH&RC said.

Crown Prince Sultan handed over Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water at the conclusion of an international conference on water resources and arid environment.

The ceremony and the conference were attended by Netherlands’ Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange and Chairman of the Advisory Commission of United Nations Secretary General for Water and Sanitation Affairs, SPA said.

The prize, which is awarded biannually, recognizes the work of scientists in the problems of provision of usable water, overcoming its scarcity and assuring its continual availability, especially in arid regions.

Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz, Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs and Chairman of the award’s council, called for an initiative to confront water piracy and deter it.

He said although the world’s focus is on terrorism, not much attention is given to the possibility that terrorism could change its strategy and target water resources.

He said the world must realize the real threat posed by the terrorists to water resources and accordingly urged giving paramount attention to threats of biological terrorism.

The Prince also called for convening a water summit similar to the financial summit hosted this week in Washington.

He called on all countries to quickly develop strategies and action plans to mitigate the negative effects of the phenomenon of climate change.

The Prince noted that the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques has given importance to water and assigned a separate ministry for it and it is now working in this framework to try to resolve the problem with the rest of the world and at the same time to educate the people of the Kingdom on the best exploitation and use of water.

The surface water award was given to Professor Chih Ted Yang from the United States. Wolfgang Kinzelbach, Professor of Hydromechanics at the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) won the ground water award. Prof. Abdul Wahab Muhammad (Malaysia) and Saline Water Conversion Corporation (Saudi Arabia) shared the award for alternative (non-conventional) water resources. The award for water resources and protection was shared by Prof. Zainul Abideen Abdul Mannan from Malaysia and the Decision Center for Arid Cities.

Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs, held a dinner for Prince Willem-Alexander, the Crown Prince of the Netherlands and the chairman of the advisory commission of the United Nations' Secretary General for the affairs of Water and sanitary drainage, and the accompanying delegation.

The banquet was attended by a number of ministers and dignitaries.