The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet's session at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Monday afternoon. At the outset of the session, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on his talks with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates, and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, and the phone call he received from the Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel, and they dealt with the prospects of cooperation between the Kingdom and those sisterly and friendly countries, ways of enhancing them, and overall regional and international events and developments. The Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Adel Zaid Al-Toraifi said in a statement to Saudi Press Agency, following the session that the Cabinet reviewed reports on events and latest developments at Arab and international arenas. The Cabinet highly appreciated the speech addressed by the King to Islamic and Arab nations and the international community at the World Islamic Conference ' Islam and Counter Terrorism' opened yesterday in Makkah on his behalf by Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, Advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Governor of Makkah Region. The Cabinet commended the speech stemming from a sincere heart believing in the right, and shouldering all their ethical responsibilities and religious duty to confront those trying to kidnap Islam, present it to the world as a religion of extremism, hatred and terrorism, and distort the image of Islam with its purity, clarity and humanity. The Cabinet stressed the importance of the first World Summit on the fight against violent extremism held last week in Washington, appreciating the Kingdom's participation in it and pointing out that the Kingdom has been and is still in the forefront of countries that have been made every effort to eliminate any thought or action that leads to terrorism, and that it is a matter of responsibility and keenness that the Kingdom participates in any serious international effort that seeks to mobilize and combine the international action in the fight against this phenomenon and its sources, and the fight against those who stand behind it without distinction between race, color, religion or doctrine. The Minister of Culture and Information said that the Council of Ministers discussed a number of topics on local affairs, commending the holding of the meeting of the tenth national dialogue in its second phase, in Jeddah, under the title 'Extremism and its Effects on National Unity' as part of the efforts and activities carried out by King Abdulaziz National Dialogue Centre to address the problem of extremism with the meeting discussing the reality of extremism and militancy and its most prominent manifestations, which led to the provision of incubating atmosphere for this problem at both Sharia and intellectual levels, and focusing on the conditions that contributed to its emergence at the local, regional and international scenes. Dr. Adel Zaid Al-Toraifi said that the Council of Ministers considered the topics on its agenda and took the following: First: The cabinet authorized the Foreign Minister - or his deputy - to discuss with the Gabonese side a draft memorandum of understanding regarding political consultations between the Foreign Ministry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Foreign and Francophone Affairs and Regional Integration in the Republic of Gabon, sign it and then submit the final, signed version for completion of the statutory procedures. Second: The cabinet authorized President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities - or his deputy - to discuss with the Peruvian side a draft memorandum of understanding in the field of archeology, museums, architectural heritage and handicraft industries between the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Peru, sign it and then submit the signed, final version for completion of the statutory procedures. Third: After review of the report submitted by Minister of Finance, and after consideration of Majlis Al-Shura's resolution No. (145/75) dated 09/12/2014, the Cabinet approved the agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion taxes of income and capital taxes, and (protocol) attaching it signed in Riyadh on 13/05/2014. A royal decree has been prepared for this purpose. Among the most prominent features of this agreement: 1 - This agreement shall be applied to persons residing in each of the Contracting States or in both. 2 - This agreement shall be applied to the imposed taxes on income and capital on behalf of each Contracting State or its regional administrative departments or local authorities, irrespective of how they are levied. Fourth: After reviewing the report submitted by the Ministry of Civil Service, and after consideration of Majlis Al-Shura's resolution No. (132/71) 25/11/2014, the Cabinet approved the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Civil Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Civil Service's Court of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, signed in Amman on 05/08/2014. A royal decree has been prepared for this purpose. Among the most prominent features of this MOU: 1 - The Parties shall commit to strengthening relations between the two countries in the field of civil service, and reinforcing cooperation in this field in the framework of the laws and regulations in force in the two countries. 2 - The Parties shall cooperate in the development of regulations of the civil service in the fields of job classification, requalification and training, recruitment and development of administrative leadership. Fifth: On request to ratify the ownership of the National Agricultural Development Company (NADEC) and Qassim Agricultural Company and Tabuk Agricultural Development Company (TADCO) of the lands handed to them, the cabinet approved a number of measures including the following: 1- The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water and Electricity shall supervise the preparation of a new survey of the lands handed to the companies referred to above. These companies shall conduct the survey through specialized consulting firms approved by both ministries to identify all the areas that are required to be owned after excluding the uncultivated areas with coordinates, lengths, angles and refractions. The mentioned survey shall include detailed information on currently cultivated areas and those that have been cultivated previously and are untapped now and those that have not been cultivated before, separately. Working and non-working wells shall also be identified. 2- The Ministry of Agriculture shall study what is offered by each of those companies of recent aerial photographs of agricultural activity and shall verify them on the ground. 3- The Ministry of Water and Electricity shall identify unlicensed wells to take the necessary legal action on them. 4- The Ministry of Agriculture shall provide both of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Ministry of Finance with a copy of the survey of the uncultivated lands which will be withdrawn from those companies. Sixth: The Cabinet authorized President of the General Authority for Civil Aviation -or his deputy - to sign draft agreements between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Governments of both the Republic of Maldives, and the Czech Republic and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in the field of air transport services and then submit the final, signed copies for completion of statutory procedures. Seventh: The Cabinet approved appointments to posts at the 15th and 14th ranks as well as the post of (Minister Plenipotentiary) as follows: 1. Appointment of Abdullah bin Ali bin Mohammed Al-Aqeel to the post of (Director General of the Competition Council) at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry at 15th rank. 2. Appointment of Suleiman bin Abdulrahman Al-Suraya to the post of (Committee Works Coordinator) at the Cabinet Secretariat at 15th rank. 3. Appointment of Prince Fahd bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Thunayan Al Saud to the post of (Minister Plenipotentiary) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 4. Appointment of Aqab bin Misfer bin Zaki Al-Harbi to the post of (Undersecretary at Al-Madinah Governor Principality) at Al-Madinah Region Principality at 14th rank. 5. Appointment of Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Saad bin Muamer to the post of (Cultural Attache) at the Ministry of Education at 14th rank. 6. Appointment of Hamad bin Marzouq bin Hamad Al-Qahtani to the post of (Director General of Information Technology Department) at the Ministry of Civil Service at 14th rank. 7. Appointment of Sant bin Suleiman bin Ali Al-Mutairi to the post of (Director General for Performance Control of General Establishments and Companies) at General Auditing Bureau at 14th rank. The Cabinet reviewed also two annual reports of the Saudi Red Crescent Authority and General Presidency for Scholarly Research and Ifta for the previous two fiscal years and the Cabinet issued its directives in this regard.
