May 19, 2006

IN AN AUDIENCE WITH THE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF OF THE GULF PRESS: THE CUSTODIAN OF THE TWO HOLY MOSQUES DESCRIBES THE SITUATION IN IRAQ AS SCARY AND EXPRESSES SAUDI ARABIA'S READINESS TO OFFER ANY HELP FOR THE SAKE OF IRAQ. PRINCE SALMAN IBN ABDUL AZIZ PATRONIZES THE PRIZE GIVING OF AL-RIYADH NEWSPAPER. THE GOVERNOR OF RIYADH: BE OPTIMISTIC. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz has underlined the importance of credibility in press works and said anything which lacks credibility is worthless. "The credibility of the press is an essential matter," he said in an address during a meeting with members of the Gulf Press Federation, who are participating in Federation's second General Assembly, now in progress in the Saudi capital. During the reception, Turki Al-Sudairi, the Chairman of the Federation and who is also the editor-in-chief of Al-Riyadh Arabic newspaper, briefed the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques on the activities of the Federation. In his address, King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz expressed happiness for meeting the members of the Federation, but he voiced criticism over some disgraceful photographs and some inaccurate reports, which are published in some newspapers. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques said "we should never listen to the biased reports of the foreign press notably when these reports are full of hatred towards Islam and Arabs." "Moreover, I do urge for adherence and commitment to your belief and morals and to remain sincere to your nation," he added. Responding to questions raised by the press, King Abdullah said "the Gulf region is a target for certain quarters." He expressed hope that Yemen would one day join the Gulf states, and said Yemen is an indivisible part of the Arab nation and the Gulf. "Yemen is part of the Arab and Muslim nation and part of the Arabian Gulf," said the King. Answering a question whether the next meeting of the association's general assembly would be in Yemen, the King said he's all for the idea. "Yemen is the birthplace of Arabs," he said. Answering a question on whether he thinks the current escalation between the US and Iran would amount to a military showdown, King Abdullah said he didn't think it would. "I think not," said the King. "God willing, I think it will ultimately turn to peace. The Iranians know their rights and their national and international duties, and so do the Americans." King Abdullah added that as far as the GCC countries are concerned, their biggest worry about a possible military standoff in the Gulf is the environment. "I think we are more concerned about the environment," he said. "The Gulf is between us and them (Iran.) If anything goes wrong in the Gulf, the first to suffer will be Iran, and then the other Gulf countries. But I don't think it will ever happen. Iran has intelligent people who think about the well being of themselves and others." The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques underscored the importance of moderation and said it is good in all cases even in the case of the stock markets, and added "we should behave quietly'. He hoped that the investors will be aware of how to deal with (fluctuations) in the stock market. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz,, said he seeks to establish an investment fund for people with limited income. The King's comments came while he spoke to journalists during the second gathering of the General Assembly of the Gulf Journalists Association in Riyadh. He was responding to a comment made by Turki Al-Sudairi, head of the association and editor-in-chief of the Arabic daily Al-Riyadh, during a lively debate with the King on the colourful situation of the Saudi stock exchange over the past few weeks. The King had said that the market had been "tedious" and that "small investors should know how to pick what companies to deal with, because some of them are worthless." Sudairi answered that some companies listed in the Saudi stock market are hopelessly unprofitable. " and people still go to them," countered the King. "I want to tell you a secret, and I know there are no secrets here. God willing, I seek to establish a fund for people with limited income I don't want to call them poor, because that's not a word we like to hear." King Abdullah said the fund will only take people who have SR500,000 and less. Again answering a question by Sudairi, the King said the fund will not take money from people who are worth more than half a million riyals. "They will invest in it for two years," said the King. "If they make a profit, then they are lucky. If they don't, they'll get their money back." King Abdullah added that he had sent delegates all over the world to study the viability of the idea 26 days ago. "They are due back soon to explain how this will work to me, and I'm very serious about it, but I believe that all finance people will tell me it's going to be hard to take care of investors' money. But these are the people I care about. As for the fat cats, making or losing money is up to them. I hope they don't lose." King Abdullah urged the GCC states to further enhance cooperation in confronting challenges facing them." But, we should not forget the important fact that the Gulf is an indivisible part of the Arab and Muslim nation," he said. He lauded the significant role played by the press in combating terrorism, and said it is capable of playing an important role in this respect. At a GCC Consultative Meeting, King Abdullah said it was agreed to establish a Center of combating terrorism in Bahrain. The center will be a proper channel to confront terrorism, adding that information plays a key and vital role to counter and expose terrorism, he said. Answering a question about how he sees the situation in Iraq, King Abdullah said it's quite scary and expressed sorrow over the deteriorating situation there. "What happens in Iraq will have an impact on us, and you, the pressmen, be careful and alert about the information you may receive," he said, adding "your enemy is keen on dividing your ranks," he said. "The situation in which our brethren in Iraq find themselves is very painful to all of us," he said. "All this murder and slaying and chaos in the past, we used to cringe at the site of blood, but now it has become the norm (in Iraq.) I pray to God that this situation in Iraq will clear and its people get back on the correct route. We are ready to offer any help for the sake of Iraq." The reception was attended by minister of culture and information Iyad Madani. The Minister of Culture and Information Iyad Ameen Madani inaugurated the second meeting of the General Assembly of the Gulf Press Federation, hosted by Al-Riyadh Arabic newspaper. The meeting was held at King Fahd Cultural Center. Addressing the inaugural session, Madani said the establishment of a Gulf Press Federation in the member states of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is "an ambitious vision." "Moreover, the contemporary societies depend on three pillars: the political institutions, the economic sector, and the organizations of the civil society. Any weakness in one of these pillars will make the march slow and lame." "The freedom of expression and making information available and the right of persons to know facts have become components of social balance with its cultural and social aspects," he said. He hoped that the Federation will be a supporter of such a freedom, and called for finding machineries for following up the press and media affairs so as to present to the world a genuine vision for the Gulf press rather than waiting others to perform this mission. "We are in need of such a Federation so as to protect ourselves from turning our press into means of incitement and implanting strange values in our societies, beliefs and heritage " he said, adding "if someone visits any public library he will be surprised over increasing number of Gulf publications, notably some magazines which have no mission other than playing with instincts of readers. Nevertheless, their press contents are simply publication of disgraceful photographs of women and men under the pretext of following up news of fashion, cinema, arts and sports. Such publications don't serve causes of women and youth," he noted. On his part, Turki Al-Sudairi, the Editor-in-chief of Al-Riyadh newspaper, underlined the importance of enabling the Gulf press to perform its mission in satisfactory manner. He called for confronting the challenges which face the Gulf press through dialogue with others. Meanwhile, the Federation's Secretary General Nasser al-Salih said the meeting will lead to adopting a working plan for realizing the desired goals. "The federation is fully aware of the responsibility it should shoulder for the service of the national causes," he said. The meeting was attended by undersecretary of the culture and information ministry for information affairs Dr Abdullah al-Jasser and a number of journalists. Minister of Culture and Information Iyad Amin Madani said the ministry seeks to expand the margin of expression, enable people in general to access information and establish the right of the GCC citizens to know. In a press statement after he inaugurated the second meeting of the general assembly of the gulf press federation, he said the basic task of the ministry is to provide the environment enabling the media to carry out its task locally and abroad. Prince Turki Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Assistant Minister of Culture and Information, has highlighted the importance of the Gulf Press Federation, and hoped that it will positively contribute to enriching the Gulf arena and enhancing media cooperation in the Gulf region. Prince Turki Ibn Sultan's remarks came following a dinner party he hosted here last night in honour of members of the Gulf Press Federation, who are participating in the second meeting for the Federation's General Assembly. The meeting is hosted by Al-Riyadh Arabic newspaper. Asked if the Information Ministries in member countries of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will support the Federation, Prince Turki Ibn Sultan said the GCC information ministries will be ready to extend to the federation all possible support. The dinner party was attended by a number of senior officials including Under Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Information for information affairs Dr Abdullah al-Jasser and Editors-in-chief of local and Gulf newspapers. Prince Turki Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Assistant Minister of Culture and Information, held a meeting with chief editors of sports newspapers and supervisors of sports pages in the Saudi press. Prince Turki conveyed to them the greetings of Minister of Culture and Information Iyad Ibn Amin Madani. The Prince commended Saudi press and the journalistic cadres of these papers which have remarkably succeeded in Saudization. He emphasized the importance of equilibrium in submitting constructive and meaningful press items contributing to building this dear homeland and displaying its beautiful and positive image. Prince Turki Ibn Sultan stressed the significance of standing by the Saudi national football team in the World Cup Finals 2006 in Germany. He noted that the ministry of culture and information stands by the Saudi press. The meeting was attended by a number of the ministry's officials. Meanwhile Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Riyadh Region, patronized in Riyadh Al-Riyadh newspaper's annual ceremony to honor prominent journalists and writers. At the venue, he was received by Editor-in-chief Turki Ibn Abdullah Al-Sudairi, Director General of Al-Yamamah Printing Est., the publisher of Al-Riyadh newspaper and other sister magazines, and a number of officials. Al-Sudairi delivered a speech on the occasion, welcoming Prince Salman and the editors-in-chief of a number of Saudi and GCC newspapers and magazines who attended the event. In his speech Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz expressed his respect for journalists and his happiness to attend the celebration. Prince Salman stressed that the leadership of the Kingdom welcomes criticism from the press and stressed the importance of credibility and called on journalists not in the Kingdom alone but in other countries to seek the truth in what they write and publish. He told the attendance to be more optimistic. The celebration had started with readings from the Holy Quran the Turki Al-Sudairi delivered a speech in which he praised Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz and his support to the media. He congratulated his colleagues in the media and in Al-Riyadh newspaper. Al-Sudairi talked about the progress of the media which is part of the general progress and development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He praised the professionalism and the independence of the media in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as in the Gulf. He talked about how the Kingdom has faced the terrorist attacks and about the development it achieved in education and mentioned the policy of Al-Riyadh newspaper and the system it has developed over the years. The prizes included financial prizes and certificates of achievements, which were distributed to the winners.