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May 20, 2005 |
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THE SECOND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER RECEIVES A MESSAGE FROM THE YEMENI PRIME MINISTER AND RECEIVES THE SPEAKER OF SUDAN'S NATIONAL COUNCIL. PRINCE SULTAN IBN ABDUL AZIZ APPROVES THE ALLOCATION OF SR25 MILLION AS A GRANT TO IMPLEMENT THE PROJECT OF THE TECHNICAL INSTITUTE FOR TRAINING THE YEMENI ARMED FORCES. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, patronized the opening ceremony of Charity Housing Project in Al Haet town to be built at his own expense. Upon arrival at the venue, Prince Sultan was received by Governor of Hail Region Prince Saud Ibn Abdul Mohsin Ibn Abdul Aziz and a number of princes and officials. Then Prince Sultan was briefed on the contents of the project which costs SR30 million. So far, 600 residential units distributed over five regions in the Kingdom: Assir, Tabuk, Najran, Hail and Makkah, have been constructed, officials said. While touring the project, Prince Sultan cut the ribbon, marking the opening of two schools: one for boys and one for girls at the project which accommodates 100 residential units in Al Haet. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, laid the foundation stones for two major hospitals a 500-bed specialist hospital and a 160-bed Saudi-German Hospital in Hail. The total cost of the two projects is estimated at SR330 million. Prince Sultan earlier inspected the plans and designs of the specialist hospital, which is estimated to cost SR170 million, the Saudi Press Agency said. He also examined a model of the new Saudi-German Hospital, which will cost SR160 million. Addressing the attendees at the foundation stone ceremony, Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie thanked Prince Sultan for inaugurating the two hospital projects. He said the new specialist hospital would provide advanced health services to the people of Hail. Prince Sultan also witnessed the signing of two agreements to train and employ 290 Saudis at the two hospitals. The ceremony was attended by a large number of princes and senior officials including Madinah Governor Prince Muqrin and Hail Governor Prince Saud ibn Abdul Mohsen and Dr. Khaled Batterjee, deputy chairman of Saudi-German Hospitals Group. Governor Prince Saud expressed his happiness over Prince Sultan's visit to Hail, an agricultural region, and said it would boost the region's overall development and that the government has already allocated SR1.3 billion for various welfare projects in the region. He said Prince Sultan would also visit the newly established College of Technology in Hail. Also, Prince Sultan laid the foundation for the Prince Salman Center for the Care of Handicapped Children in Hail and donated SR10 million to the center, one of the projects of the Disabled Children's Association (DCA). Since ancient times, Hail has been a magnet attracting people from all over the world. Rock carvings and petroglyphs provide evidence of human habitation here stretching back more than 18,000 years. What has brought so many people to Hail is water. Situated at the southern fringes of the great Nafud Desert, one of the most inhospitable places on earth, the Hail valley is surrounded by the Jabal Shammar mountain range. Artefacts indicate the presence of permanent settlements of farmers in the Hail valley more than three thousand years ago. In 1932, Hail entered a new chapter in its history. After unifying the fractious tribes of the Arabian Peninsula and subsequent founding of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that year, King Abdul Aziz moved swiftly to end the instability that prevailed in much of the peninsula. With travel and commerce made safe and the introduction of programs to develop the region, Hail soon began to blossom as it had never before. With the infrastructure in place, the city rapidly flourished. It now has a population estimated at 150,000, ten times larger than at any time before the modern era. The principal economic activity in Hail remains agriculture. Today, Hail exports fruits, including citrus, apples, peaches, grapes and olives, as well as dates and grains. Hail's farmers have managed to develop new strains of wheat, barley and fruit trees that are better suited to the region's climate and produce higher-quality products at greater volumes. Whereas agriculture has traditionally been the only activity in Hail, the modern city now has a dynamic industrial and commercial sector. Today, there are more than 2,000 companies on the roster of the Hail Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, has emphasized the government's plan to establish a university in Hail to promote higher education of young Saudi men and women in the region. Prince Sultan made this announcement while presiding over a meeting of the Hail Regional Council. "The government has given priority to welfare and service projects all over the Kingdom, including Hail," he told the meeting. "You will see the details of the new welfare and development projects in the Hail region shortly," the Saudi Press Agency quoted the prince as telling the meeting attended by Hail Governor Prince Saud ibn Abdul Mohsen and other officials. Prince Sultan officially inaugurated the College of Technology in Hail and toured its facilities including workshops. The new college, which was established at a cost of SR28.5 million, can accommodate 300 students. He also watched a visual presentation on the training programs of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT). Dr. Ali Al-Ghafees, governor of GOTEVOT, commended the government's efforts to expand training facilities for young Saudis to help them take up various jobs. "The organization has received a budget allocation of SR6 billion which will be used to establish more than 100 training centers and 50 technical colleges in various regions of the Kingdom," Ghafees said. "We have allocated SR300 million for technical and training institutes in the Hail region," he added. Prince Sultan, who arrived in Hail on an inspection tour, laid the foundation stones for two major hospitals a 500-bed specialist hospital and a 160-bed Saudi-German Hospital in Hail. The projects are to cost SR330 million. He also laid the foundation stone for a large flour mill in Hail yesterday in the presence of Agriculture Minister Dr. Fahd Balghoneim, who described the facility as one of the major factors of food security in the Kingdom. Saleh Suleiman, director general of the General Organization for Grain Silos and Flourmills, commended the government for providing foodstuffs to the public at subsidized rates. Hail is one of the Kingdom's major agricultural regions. It exports fruit, including citrus, apples, peaches, grapes and olives, as well as dates and grains. Hail's farmers have managed to develop new strains of wheat, barley and fruit trees that are better suited to the region's climate and produce higher-quality products at greater volumes. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, laid the foundation stone for a flour mill project. On arrival at the venue, Prince sultan was received by Minister of Agriculture and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the General Organization for Grain Silos and Flour Mills, Dr. Fahd Ibn Abdul Rahman Bal-Ghunaim and a number of officials. The ceremony was attended by Governor of Hail Region Prince Saud Ibn Abdul Mohsin Ibn Abdul Aziz, a number of princes and officials. In Riyadh Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General received a message from Yemen's Premier Abdul Qadir Bajamal. Prince Sultan was handed over the message during his meeting here today with Yemen's Ambassador to the Kingdom Khalid Ismail Al-Akwa'. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General received the Speaker of Sudan's National Council Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Taher and the accompanying delegation currently on a visit to the Kingdom. The meeting was attended by Chairman of Shoura Council Dr. Salih Ibn Abdullah Ibn Homaid and Council's Member Major General Dr. Salih Ibn Faris Al-Zahrani. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General and Head of the Saudi Side of the Saudi-Yemeni Coordination Council, has approved the allocation of SR25 million included in the budget of the Saudi projects bureau in Yemen as a grant to implement the project of the technical institute for training the Yemeni armed forces. Accordingly, a contract to implement the projects was signed at the headquarters of the Yemeni Ministry of Defense. Implementation of the projects will take 33 months. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul-Aziz, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, signed a SR368 million contract with "Safari" Company for the operation and maintenance of aviation systems and equipment at the Kingdom's airports. The contract, which lasts three years, will serve more than 100 international airline companies, operating flights to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The contract covers operation and maintenance of telecommunication systems and radars as well as aviation support systems and air control systems. In a related development, Saudi Arabia and Thailand reached an agreement on civil aviation services. As per the agreement, both Saudi Arabian Airlines and Thai Airways will operate nine flights weekly to both countries. Thai Airways will operate flights to Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam while Saudia will operate flights to seven destinations in Thailand. In Hail Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, patronized the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the projects of Prince Salman Center for Care of Handicapped Children and Hail Oasis Endowment for supporting the Center. Upon arrival at the venue, Prince Sultan was received by Prince Sultan Ibn Salman, Chairman of Board of Directors of the Society of Handicapped Children; Prince Abdul Aziz Ibn Saad Ibn Abdul Aziz, Vice Governor of Hail Region; other princes and officials. Prince Sultan laid the foundation stones of the two projects and watched photos exhibition of the Society's centers in various regions. A speech ceremony was held on this occasion. Prince Sultan announced his donation of SR 10 million for Hail Oasis Endowment project. In an impromptu speech, Prince Sultan thanked Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz for adopting the Society and exerting much money and efforts in this regard. He expressed his support for good deeds in which the private sector has participated. On his part, Prince Sultan Ibn Salman praised Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz's support for the Society in all the Kingdom's regions. He noted that the Center will be the Society's sixth one and it will accommodate 150 children at a cost of SR 12 million, adding that the Society has sought for establishing two additional projects. Prince Sultan Ibn Salman thanked Dr. Nasser Ibn Ibrahim Al-Rasheed for adopting the establishment of this project at his own expense. Then Prince Sultan handed certificates of merits and shields to those who initiated the Center. The ceremony was attended by Prince Meqrin Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Madinah Region; other princes; Islamic scholars; ministers and officials. Also in Hail Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, patronized the opening of Al-Mughwah recreational park. The ceremony was also attended by Prince Abdul Rahman Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, Prince Miqren Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Madinah Region a number of senior officials and a large number of citizens. On arrival at the venue of the ceremony, Prince Sultan was received by Governor of Hail Region Prince Saud Ibn Abdul Mohsin Ibn Abdul Aziz, a number of princes and officials. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, paid visits to a number of Hail Region's dignitaries. On the other hand Prince Khalid Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Charitable Fund for Patient's Treatment at Prince Sultan Humanitarian City has chaired the 4th meeting of the Board of Directors. At the start of the meeting Prince Khalid delivered a speech in which he praised the efforts exerted by Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz to serve people through his charity. Then the board reviewed the agenda and discussed its several items. |
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