Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques urges followers of heavenly religions to meet

King Abdullah receives message from French president

Prince Saud: Lebanon crisis internationalization is not dangerous; Saudi-Syrian relations won't need meditation

Prince Muqrin promotes anti-terrorism course graduates

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud decorated Dr. Abdulaziz bin Othman Al-Tuwaijri, Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) with King Abdulaziz medal, the Excellent Class during an audience at his palace in Riyadh.

The King lauded the efforts being exerted by Dr. Al-Tuwaijri, wishing him continuous success.

On his part, Al-Tuwaijri thanked the monarch for honoring them, lauding the assistance provided by the Kingdom and its prudent leadership to ISESCO.

The audience was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Advisor to the King.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received at his palace in Riyadh the winners of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud's prize for translation.

The king congratulated them on winning the prizes, wishing them more success and calling for more effort to boost Arabic into other languages and vise versa translation.

Earlier on behalf of King Abdullah, Prince Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, the King’s adviser and member of King Abdulaziz Public Library, handed over the King Abdullah International Prize for Translation awards to winners.

Prince Abdulaziz then handed over the awards in the field of efforts of institutions and organizations to the King Fahd Holy Qur’an Printing Complex in recognition of its translation work.

The translation prize in the area of science from other languages to Arabic was shared by Dr. Abdullah Al-Mohaidib, Professor of Civil Engineering at King Saud University and Dr. Ahmad Ali Basha of Egypt, a Professor of Physics at Cairo University.

Prince Abdulaziz also handed over the prize in the field of humanities from Arabic to other languages to co-winners Dr. Abdul Salam Al-Shaddadi of Morocco, Professor of Islamic Studies at King Mohammad V University, and Italian Professor Claudia Mariah, Professor of Arabic language at Turin University.

The winners thanked King Abdullah for his support for disseminating knowledge and science.

On their part, the prize's laureates thanked the monarch for welcoming and honoring them.

The audience was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Advisor to the King, and other senior officials.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received at his palace in Riyadh the U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom Ford Frecker.

The ambassador conveyed to the King the greetings and appreciation of President George W. Bush of the United States.

In turn, the King sent his greetings to President Bush.

During the meeting, they reviewed a number of issues of mutual concern.

The meeting was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Advisor to the King.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has received a message from France's President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The message was delivered to the King by the French Ambassador to the Kingdom Partron Bozenso during an audience at the King's palace in Riyadh.

The ambassador conveyed to the King the greetings and appreciation of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. In turn, the King sent his greetings to President Sarkozy.

The meeting was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Advisor to the King.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has sent a cable of condolences to King Mohammed VI of Morocco for the victims of a blaze which broke out in a mattress factory in Casablanca.

In his own name and on behalf of the people and government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed deep condolences and sincere sympathy, praying to Allah the Almighty to bestow mercy on the deceased and speed up recovery of the wounded.

Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, has sent a cable of condolences to King Mohammed VI of Morocco for the victims of a blaze which broke out in a mattress factory in Casablanca.

In his cable, the Crown Prince expressed deep condolences and sincere sympathy, praying to Allah the Almighty to bestow mercy on the deceased and speed up recovery of the wounded.

Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Cohr Store held in Riyadh a press conference.

At the outset of the press conference, Prince Saud welcomed the Norwegian Minister and the accompanying delegation. Prince Saud said, "We held a comprehensive long session which focused on bilateral relations between the two countries and means on enhancing them in many domains.”

We look forward to signing the free trade convention in its final form between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and countries of European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which in turn will enhance economic ties, contribute to increasing commercial exchange and promoting the exchange of investments in goods and services between GCC countries and EFTA. This will be of a great benefit for both countries. The Foreign Minister will hold a meeting with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz".

"As oil is one of the important fields for both countries, the existing cooperation between us is of a special importance in the framework of the objectives of stabilizing international oil market to serve the interests of producers, consumers, petroleum industry and global economy. The beginning of this year witnessed a qualitative development in cooperation between us in the field of oil by focusing on environment and petroleum issues and injection of carbon in particular. This keeps abreast of the international efforts and the Kingdom's initiative in the latest OPEC summit held in Riyadh which called for establishing a fund for research in the field of energy, environment and climate change to be supported with a sum of $ 300 million", he added.

As regards political issues in the region, Prince Saud said, "We discussed peace process in the Middle East as well as the efforts exerted to push it forward.

We highly appreciate Norway for its positive contribution to the peace process.

Norway was the sponsor of Oslo agreement resulted in the establishment of the Palestinian autonomy authority in the occupied territories.

“We look forward to continuation of this constructive role to move from the stage of autonomy authority to the stage of establishing the independent Palestinian state of full sovereignty on the basis of international legitimacy, its resolutions and Arab peace initiative. We also appreciate the humanitarian efforts exerted by Norway to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians through its presidency of the special communication commission for assisting the Palestinians. We look forward to continuation of these efforts and look forward to the international community's response to the importance in this regard", Prince Saud said.

It is quite important to demand that Israel lift the unjust siege imposed on the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip to facilitate the provision of aid for them", Prince Saud said.

Prince Saud said that during his meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister, they discussed international problems, including Darfur crisis and the International Conference for Assisting Sudan to be held in Oslo in May.

"We look forward that the conference will achieve its objectives in supporting Sudan to end the humanitarian suffering of the people of Darfur. We also hope that the conference will be an opportunity for unifying international visions and policies to solve the crisis keeping away from the rhetoric of tension and escalation which leads to further complications", Prince Saud added.

Prince Saud also pointed out that they discussed the Lebanese crisis and the importance of solving it in accordance with the Arab League initiative based on the principle of consensus among the Lebanese parties according to the constitutional frames and in the light of parliamentary elections between the majority and the minority.

Prince Saud said, "We hope that the set date, 13 May, will be final for opening the Parliament and the election of a compromise-based president, General Michael Suleiman, as a step to form the government of a national unity in addition to reviewing the parliamentary election law among all parties and putting an end to the crisis on the principle of giving priority to national interests of Lebanon and keeping it away from any external interference aimed at destabilizing its security and stability and making it an arena for regional and international conflicts".

With regard to the situation in Iraq, Prince Saud said, "Our viewpoints are identical in terms of maintaining Iraq unified, safe and prosperous under its sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity in addition to maintaining its national identity and keeping away from any external interventions aimed at controlling its political decision and free will.

We emphasized the recommendations of the 3rd Expanded Conference of Iraq's Neighboring Countries in this regard and the work for their achievement within the framework of the international and regional efforts".

Prince Saud noted that they discussed the nuclear file in the Middle East and the Gulf as well as the importance of continuing peaceful efforts to solve the Iranian nuclear file crisis while ensuring the right of countries in the region to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with the standards and procedures of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and under its supervision.

"For our part, I underlined the importance of applying these standards to all countries in the region without exception, including Israel" he said.

On his part, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Cohr Store delivered a speech in which he thanked Prince Saud Al-Faisal for the warm welcome and generous hospitality.

Minister Jonas described their discussions as important and useful.

"Both countries have developed their understanding and cooperation in the field of energy for many years.

We added political dimension to our relations. This dimension is based on our technological aspirations and the development of technology needed by the Kingdom. We deepen this cooperation and renew the cooperation in the field of energy, gas and petroleum with respect to the organic fuel", Minister Jonas said.

He pointed out that several issues were discussed during the meeting and their viewpoints were identical with respect to Lebanon, Sudan and the Middle East. He said that a meeting on the Palestinian cause will be held in London.

Following that, Prince Saud Al-Faisal and the Norwegian Foreign Minister answered reporters' questions.

As regards a question about the expected visit of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to the Kingdom, Prince Saud said "I have not heard of this news".

Regarding NATO's request for the accession of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to NATO, Prince Saud said "There was a visit paid by NATO to the Kingdom and a visit paid by the Kingdom to NATO. We are of course studying this".

Commenting on a question about the main issues related to human rights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud said, "The Kingdom has a set of values which we must follow. In the Kingdom, there are two organizations for human rights that receive complaints and follow them up with the concerned authorities".

As regards Lebanon, Prince Saud said that "The issue of Lebanon is currently being discussed at the United Nations. All parties should help Lebanon".

He pointed out that Lebanon has broad and historic relations with all world countries; therefore, it is not a surprise to see an international and Arab concern to resolve the Lebanese issue.

As regards the mediation of some Arab countries between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Syria, Prince Saud said "I think there is no mediation between Syria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Our relations exist, communications are direct and relations are not complicated.

Thus, I think there is no need for external mediation between the two countries".

Regarding the role of Norway in ending the problem caused by the publication of offensive caricatures defaming Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), the Norwegian Foreign Minister said "As for caricatures in my country, they were published by only one editor while the rest of newspapers refused publishing such cartoons.

In Norway, the basis of our culture is to respect religions. Accordingly, I call for more religious and cultural dialogue in order to avoid falling into such incidents".

Regarding the role of Norway in supporting the commission on the Palestinian affairs, the Norwegian Foreign Minister said that Norway chairs the group of donors and 28 meetings have been held in this regard.

They were able to organize the donation process and the Palestinians' management of these donations so that Gaza Strip could live in peace and the Palestinians could receive assistance in the economic field as well as the creation of appropriate circumstances for the Palestinian economy to grow.

Regarding the issue of carbon, the Norwegian Foreign Minister said, "We are the world's third gas-producing country and the fifth oil-producing country. We are now at the stage of a qualitative cooperation with regard to the carbon injection and collection, particularly in the third world regions. There is a modern and advanced technology which we can use in this regard.

It is possible to cooperate with the Kingdom to develop carbon dioxide existing in the air, invest in this field and provide a lot of support.”

“We can discuss this issue with Netherlands, Britain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Given the strong sun in the Kingdom as well as our technology, we can further strengthen relationships and create a lot of cooperation", he added.

As regards the oil price hikes and the possibility that the world keeps away from using petroleum, Prince Saud said, "I think that the problem lies in finding a sort of balance in the energy field. We will need petroleum in the near future and there will be alternatives needed at the global level. As for calls for non-use of petroleum, they are limited".

"We are concerned with respect to consuming countries because they are our customers and we will not do anything to destroy the economy of any country. We do hope that developments in the field of alternative energy sources will help. We also hope that there will be more cooperation with regard to the needs of consumers in this field", he added.

Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, director of intelligence, announced his approval to promote special security staff, graduated from an anti-terrorism training course held in Taef; in appreciation for what they have done for a year and a half and for what has been achieved during their different training phases.

Prince Muqrin improvised his words during the training courses of king Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Center and School graduation ceremony, for the year 1428-1429, which he patronized.