King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz asserts humanitarian actions duty on every Muslim

Saudi CP donates for doctors' residence, cultural activity hall projects at Armed Forces Hospital

Cabinet approves new plan to enhance Kingdom's food security

Serious proposal on forming peacekeeping force working under OIC umbrella

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired a Cabinet session at al-Yamamah Palace.

At the outset of the session, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on the consultations, contacts and meetings he held over the previous days with a number of leaders of countries and organizations and their envoys on bilateral relations, regional issues and international affairs as well as his meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

In a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the session, the Minister of Culture and Information Iyad bin Amin Madani said the Cabinet stressed in this regard the need for the influential countries to shoulder their political and moral responsibilities toward the Palestinian people and their suffering under the torture and persecution of the Israeli authorities. The Cabinet also stressed that member countries of the Quartet Committee, collectively and individually, should translate their stated positions on the Palestinian national rights and the right of the Palestinian people to a cohesive and integrated country into a tangible reality on the ground. They also should confront the Israeli settlement expansion, the racist separation wall and the other measures that ignore the international legitimacy, the actions of the Quartet Committee, the Arab and Islamic pursuit of peace and the stated positions of the major countries.

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

The Cabinet approved a number of procedures governing the organization of the State's awards, including the following:

- The concerned minister shall be authorized to organize the awards granted by the ministry to its employees and to identify the award's procedures in accordance with regulations provided that the award does not include the name of any officials of the state.

- The Ministry of Culture and Information shall grant the State's award for literature. This award shall be granted once.

- King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives shall continue granting King Abdulaziz Award as dictated in Article (3) of the Foundation's Law.

- The Ministry of Labor shall start granting King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Award for Training.

The Cabinet approved an interpretation of the term (possession) provided in Arms and Ammunition Law. The interpretation shall be as follows: "The criminal and punishable possession, according to Arms and Ammunition Law, shall include intentional physical control status irrespective of its origin or motivation".

The Cabinet approved the appointment of seven members at the board of directors of the General Commission for Tourism and Antiquities for a three-year term effective from the enforcement of this decision.

The members are :

1 - Dr. Adnan bin Mohammed bin Wazzan

2 - Engineer Abdullah bin Abdulrahman Al-Muqbil

3 - Dr. Saad bin Abdulaziz Al-Rashed

4 - Eng. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Bakr

5 - Taha bin Abdullah Al-Guwaiz

6 - Abdullah bin Abdulmohsen Al-Bazei

7 - Dr. Saadoun bin Saad Al-Saadoun

The Cabinet approved long and short term arrangements concerning the provision of goods and food supplies and the control of their prices in the local market including the following:

- Emphasis shall be on the application of the mechanisms of Cabinet's decision No. 11 dated on 19 / 1 / 1429 H and on following up its implementation to alleviate the impact on citizens due to the great rise in the prices of food supplies, agricultural and animal products and goods. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall put forward an integrated study to determine the Kingdom's future needs of food supplies to enhance the Kingdom's food security.

First: Short term arrangements include: 1- The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Culture and Information; and Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall educate and raise consumption awareness of the public in a way that promotes consumption conservation among citizens and expatriates.

2- The Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall coordinate with concerned bodies to discuss allocating a land for establishing warehouses by the private sector to store food stuffs.

Second: Medium and long term arrangements include: -The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall submit the results of a comprehensive survey of states that have the potentialities and opportunities for investment in the agricultural sector, and the animal and fish wealth in addition to preparing a comprehensive report to be submitted to the Cabinet within a period that shall not exceed two months as of the date of issuing the decision.

- The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall prepare an integrated study to identify the Kingdom's future needs of food products. Then, the two Ministries shall prepare a comprehensive and detailed report to be submitted to the Cabinet within a period that shall not exceed two months as of the date of issuing the decision.

- The Foreign Ministry shall prepare an exemplary wording of framework agreement on the Saudi foreign investments in the fields of agricultural, animal and fish wealth and submit it to the Cabinet within a period that shall not exceed two months as of the date of issuing the decision.

- The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall prepare the necessary studies regarding the establishment of a Saudi holding company between public and private sectors for development and utilization of agricultural and animal investments in other states.

- Expansion of Saudi investments in agricultural, animal and fish areas outside the Kingdom; non-concentration on one state; giving incentives to Saudi businessmen to invest in these areas through the provision of credit facilities and easy funding by public financial institutions to ensure provision of these products in the Kingdom in reasonable prices to achieve food security for medium and long terms.

- Looking for financing infrastructure projects needed in the areas of Saudi investments in agricultural and animal fields in other states through Saudi Development Fund and regional and international development institutions.

- The Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Agriculture shall set a mechanism regulating contracts with Saudi companies investing in other countries to purchase products relating to Saudi food security.

- The Ministry of Finance shall provide the necessary financial support to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to meet its needs of devices, equipment, manpower and training to ensure that the ministry performs its role properly, particularly in controlling prices and following up the implementation of relevant regulations including the systems of trade data, competition and combating commercial fraud.

The Cabinet approved a number of appointments as follows:

1- Hamad bin Suleiman bin Abdulrahman Al-Qasumi as Assistant Director General of Customs at the Department of Customs 2- Dr. Ibrahim bin Mubarak bin Nasser Al-Dojain as Assistant Deputy for Services at Riyadh Governorate>

3- Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Batel as Statistics Expert at then Department of General Statistics and Information, Ministry of Economy and Planning.

Meanwhile, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Medallion of First Class presented to him by the Organization of Arab Red Crescent and Red Cross in recognition of his humanitarian efforts and personal role in the field of humanitarian actions.

The medallion was presented to the Monarch by the Organization's Secretary General Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Hazza during the King's audience with Prince Faisal bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, President of Saudi Red Crescent Society accompanied by Al-Hazza, presidents and secretaries general of Red Crescent Societies in a number of Arab countries.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed his thanks to and appreciation of all, emphasizing that what he has been doing of humanitarian actions is a duty on every Muslim and human being. The Monarch wished success for all in their humanitarian actions.

In his speech, Al-Hazza, in his own name and on behalf the Organization, expressed his great pleasure to present the medallion to the King in recognition of the great humanitarian role played by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the leadership and directives of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Al-Hazza noted that international records have shown that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia provides humanitarian aid equivalent to about 5 per cent of its domestic gross product which is the highest proportion provided by a state at the international level; therefore the Kingdom has won the title of " Kingdom of humanity".

The Organization's Secretary General pointed out that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia allocated a land for building the Organization's headquarters in Riyadh as well as SR 10 million for building the headquarters to which the Organization will be transferred at the end of this year.

The audience was attended by Prince Miqren bin Abdulaziz, Chief of General Intelligence; Prince Mansour bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz, Adviser to the King; Prince Dr. Bandar bin Salman bin Mohammed Al Saud, Adviser to the King and Abdulmohsen bin Abdulaziz Al-Tuwaijri, Adviser to the King.

Meanwhile, with a generous donation from Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, General Director of the Public Department for Medical Services of the armed forces General Khalaf Bin Radn al-Mutairi inaugurated the doctors’ residence and the cultural activity hall projects at the Armed Forces at al-Dawaser Valley, which was established at the expense of Prince Sultan with a total cost SR 13.890.989.

The project includes a number of cultural halls and two buildings for the doctors. The two-storey buildings have 16 flats at each storey. He also opened the kidney-transplant unit, which was established at the hospital with a total cost SR 1.000.0000. It contains 6 dialysis units.

Prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz will patronize a conference dubbed “The Saudi Family and the Contemporary Changes” next Saturday at Imam Mohammad Bin Saud Islamic University.

The conference will discuss seven main points and will include workshops and a lecture delivered by Sheikh Saleh Al-Hosain, President of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs, on family and current social changes. The first pivot point of discussion will be the family’s social and security role, which includes a number of topics, including family in Islam being the base of security and the role of family in planting the culture of dialogue in the minds of children.

The characteristics of a terrorist’s family and its connections to extremism in Saudi Arabia are also included.

The second main point is the family’s role in building characters of special needs children.

The third main point discusses problems that modern families face covering topics like divorce, child emotional abuse, and social impact of economic inflation.

The fourth point session of discussion is entitled “Factors Influencing the Family”. It will deal with topics including the Saudi family’s strategies to deal with globalization challenges and their effects on parents’ authority, and the position of the Arabian family’s patriarchs.

The fifth point, “Tackling methods of Family Problems”, discusses communication among family members, the social service and violence. The sixth point discusses court’s reconciliation offices and their role in serving families and saving them from the effects of divorce, in addition to the family’s role in educating the deaf and other related topics.

The seventh point entitled “Institutional experiences in the domain of family” will include discussing the experiences of a number of family institutions and centers.

The King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Foundation inked a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Foundation for Education and Training, according to which the later provides its services in training and education field for the children of the residents in the developmental housing projects in King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Foundation.

In Jeddah, official Spokesman for the Organization of Islamic Council (OIC) Atta Al-Manane stressed on the importance of having Islamic forces working under the OIC umbrella as a peacekeeping force in some troubled Islamic countries.

"Such a decision needs a support from the OIC member states," the ambassador said, considering this step, if succeeded, as a strong push to the OIC role.

"The step is not new as Islamic forces have worked under the OIC umbrella in 1996 during riots in Philippine and the forces were sent from Indonesia, Bangladesh and achieved a great success in this period and contributed in solving this crisis," said the OIC spokesman.

Meanwhile, al-Manane described the situation between Chad and Sudan as complicated, noting that applying the peace initiative, signed recently on the sideline of the OIC summit in Dakar, needs patient and more efforts. However he said that efforts being exerted now could help putting an end to the crisis and implementing the agreement before the end of 2008.