June 2, 2006

THE SAUDI CABINET CALLS ON THE PALESTINIANS TO HALT ALL FORMS OF DIFFERENCES AND WORK FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF THEIR NATIONAL UNITY. THE CROWN PRINCE RECEIVES A MESSAGE ADDRESSED TO KING ABDULLAH FROM THE SRI-LANKAN PRESIDENT. PRINCE NAIF IBN ABDUL AZIZ BRIEFS THE CABINET ON THE 7TH GCC'S MINISTERS OF THE INTERIOR MEETING RECENTLY CONCLUDED IN ABU DHABI. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz chaired the Cabinet's weekly session at Al-Yamamah palace in Riyadh. At the outset of the session, the Monarch briefed the Cabinet on the contents of contacts held over the previous days with a number of leaders and officials of countries, which dealt with regional and international issues topped by the situation in the Middle East. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the session, the Minister of Transport and Acting Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Jubarah Ibn Eid Al-Suraisri said that the Cabinet looks forward to seeing the Palestinian brothers halt all forms of differences which lead to more dissension and negative effect on the Palestinian issue, and hopes that all Palestinians work for the enhancement of the national unity and for the unification of all efforts to serve the Palestinian people and their just cause. The acting minister noted that the King offered his condolences to the Indonesian leadership, people, families and relatives of the victims of the earthquake which recently hit areas of their country. The Monarch prayed to Almighty Allah to bless the souls of the deceased, and wished a quick recovery for the injured. The King directed the concerned authorities to speedily deliver humanitarian aid provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the afflicted people to confront the consequences of this destructive earthquake. As regards the Gulf arena, the Cabinet was briefed by the minister of interior on the 7th consultative meeting of interior ministers of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states recently concluded in Abu Dhabi. The Cabinet commended the distinguished success of the security efforts of the GCC states in confronting terrorist acts which defame Islam, perpetrators, supporters and instigators. The success has been owed to the distinguished performance of security authorities. The acting Minister of Culture and Information said the Cabinet then reviewed the local items on its agenda and issued the following decisions: The Cabinet approved the recommendation of the Minister of Interior to waive any overdue charges of the Passports Department, including official fees and fines, incurred by a deceased laborer who has been announced fugitive and hiding from his sponsor. According to Article 3 of the Cabinet's resolution No. 39 dated 11/2/1421 H., the government shoulders the overdue charges against a dead foreign laborer as per the Resident Permit regulation and its amendments. The sponsor of the deceased foreign labourer will not be liable to undertake the costs of transporting his body home if the sponsor proved to have notified the authorities of the labourer's disappearance. The Cabinet approved a recommendation of the Minister of Finance to allow GCC countries citizens to practice some activities in Saudi Arabia including follow-up of routine transactions at government and private offices and obtaining commercial agencies licenses on reciprocal bases. The Investment General Commission was commissioned to act as a national committee for facilitating transport and commerce among ASCWA member countries, taking into consideration that the pertinent private sector companies be involved in this activity. The Cabinet approved the appointment of Mutlaq Ibn Abdullah Ibn Mutlaq Al-Hinaki as legal expert, category A, at the Experts Commission; Faisal Ibn Hasan Ibn Ahmed Tirad as Minister Plenipotentiary, category A, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz Ibn Sulaiman Al Shiddi as legal expert, category A, at the Experts Commission. On the other hand Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General received a message for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz from Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse. The message was handed over to the Crown Prince by Sri Lankan Minister of Communication, Railway, Petroleum and Development of Human Resources Abdul Hamid Mohammed Fawzi during an audience with him at the royal court at Al Yamamah palace in Riyadh. The Minister conveyed to the King and the Crown Prince the greetings of the Sri Lankan President. In turn, the Crown Prince sent the king's and his greetings to the president. During the audience, they exchanged cordial talks and discussed topics of mutual concern. The audience was attended by a number of officials. In Brussels the conference of ''World Information Role in Relations Between Peoples in the Middle East and Mediterranean" started with the participation of representatives from 55 countries. The Minister of Culture and Information Iyad bin Amin Madani headed the Kingdom's delegation to the conference. In an augural speech, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht welcomed Minister Madani, commending the Kingdom's role in supporting these initiatives and meetings aiming to support and enhance dialogue and tackle obstacles that prevent further understanding among nations and peoples. In his interposition at the conference, the minister of Culture and Information stressed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has proved that it is a balanced and non-extreme power and that the image promoted by some circles is not correct, adding that the will of premeditated defamation is mostly present. The mass media in the Kingdom is one of means of social participation and the state controls only a small part of the media which has an important social role, he said. Madani noted that repetition of allegations against Arab satellite channels and mass media does not serve any party, adding that marginal and secondary satellite channels have no weight in the Arab world. The Minister of Culture and Information pointed out that concentrating on the principle of contact, renouncing disharmony mechanisms, distancing from civilizations shock, approaching their alliance, extending bridges and building contact channels remain the effective weapons to confront extremism. Each party should shoulder its responsibility and should not ignore in coexistence the special characteristics that distinguish each one including the religious and spiritual aspects. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Minister Madani said that we have expressed at the conference the viewpoints of the Kingdom and Arab and Muslim World so that such opinions will be submitted to conferences and symposiums. He added that the conference proved that the Kingdom's image is good and positive at all political and economic levels and at regional and international arenas.