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 expressed his thanks and appreciation to the leaders of brotherly and friendly countries and all who offered condolences to the Kingdom on the victims of the pilgrims stampede incident in Mina, praying to Allah Almighty to forgive them and accept them as martyrs, wishing the injured people a speedy recovery. The King stressed that irresponsible statements aimed at political exploitation of this incident and causing dissension and division in the Muslim world will not affect the Kingdom's role and its great duty and responsibilities in the service of pilgrims and its permanent keenness on unifying Arab and Muslim ranks and the Kingdom will not allow any hidden hands to tamper with that, confirming that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia honored by Allah Almighty with the service of the Two Holy Mosques and their visitors has dedicated itself and exploited all potentialities and efforts as a leadership, government and people for pilgrims' comfort, safety and security. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on his talks with President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi of the Republic of Yemen, reconfirming the Kingdom's full support for the Republic of Yemen and its legitimate government and the Kingdom's permanent keenness on Yemen's security and stability and assisting its brotherly people. The King also briefed the Cabinet on the outcomes of his talks with President Mohamed Ould Abdulaziz of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, commending deep relations between the two countries and keenness on enhancing them in various fields for the interest of the two countries and their brotherly peoples. The Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Adel bin Zaid Altoraifi said in a statement to Saudi Press Agency following the session that the Cabinet expressed its thanks and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for ordering to disburse assistance to the families of deceased and injured people in the fall incident of a crane at the Grand Holy Mosque, who have been set by the concerned authorities and for the King's order to host two of the family of each deceased pilgrim abroad within the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Guests for Hajj 1437 AH and to enable those of the injured pilgrims whose health conditions prevented them from completing Hajj rituals for this year to come again for the performance of Hajj in the year 1437 AH within the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Guests. On the occasion of the 85th Anniversary of the National Day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Cabinet expressed its thanks and praise to Allah Almighty for His blessings of security and stability enjoyed by the Kingdom and for what it has been witnessing of development, growth and prosperity, stressing that all Muslims are sharing the Kingdom in this celebration because this anniversary registers a historical launch by this blessed country that exploited all its potentialities to serve Islam and Muslims, praying to Allah Almighty to reward the founder of this great entity, late King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud and his faithful sons after him, late kings Saud, Faisal, Khalid, Fahd and Abdullah for what they have achieved for the country of continuous achievements, and to guide and help the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and to grant him the best reward for his care and attention of the Two Holy Mosques, their visitors and all Muslims' affairs , and for what the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia witnesses of security and safety under his wise leadership and for his future vision full of balanced trends, contributing to advancing citizens to the highest levels of living economically and to making the Kingdom a successful and leading model in the world at all levels. Under a royal guidance, the Cabinet was briefed on the results of the visit paid to Russia by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense and his meeting with President Vladimir Putin, during which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's keenness to achieve the aspirations of the brotherly Syrian people was emphasized in addition to the Kingdom's supportive position to solve the Syrian crisis on a peaceful basis in accordance with the decisions of the Geneva Conference (1) to ensure an end to the suffering of the brotherly Syrian people from the tragedies at the hands of the Syrian regime, and to avoid the continuation of this crisis' consequences on the security and stability in the region. After that, the Cabinet was also briefed on a number of reports about the latest developments on Arab, regional and international arenas, and expressed its congratulations to the Republic of Yemen, Government and people on the occasion of the return of the Yemeni government to Aden as a temporary capital to carry out its tasks from there, reflecting what has been achieved of victory, praying to Allah Almighty for the achievement of security and stability in Yemen, and reconfirming that the Kingdom, its brothers and friends in the coalition countries are standing with the Republic of Yemen in support of its people and defending their dignity. The Cabinet denounced the continuous provocative violations and procedures against Al-Aqsa Mosque; Al-Quds city and the West Bank, as well as the attacks against the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation authorities and settlers, stressing the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' calls, through his contacts with heads of major States and the Secretary General of the United Nations for the need to exert international serious and swift efforts and endeavors in addition to the need for the United Nations Security Council's intervention to take urgent measures to stop all Israeli violations of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the protection of the Palestinian people and Islamic holy sites and to give the Palestinian people all their rights. The Cabinet also valued the decision issued by the extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)'s Member States' Foreign Ministers, which was held in New York in response to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's call, which confirmed the Palestinian sovereignty over east Al-Quds and the Islamic Nation's refusal and condemnation of the Israeli occupation authorities' acts and its determination to prevent and nullify them as invalid, condemned and illegal acts, and the decision's content calling on the United Nations Security Council to take swift action to compel Israel to cease its violations. The Cabinet welcomed the political agreement reached between representatives of the negotiated Libyan parties in Sukhairat city, Morocco on the formation of a national unity government, which was announced by Bernardino Leon, the special envoy of the United Nations Secretary General to Libya, expressing its hope that this agreement would end the suffering of the Libyan people, achieve the aspirations of sisterly Libya for the maintenance of its unity, security and stability and enable it to combat terrorism. The Cabinet condemned the terrorist bombing that hit the capital of the Republic of Turkey and led to many casualties, re-stressing the Kingdom's solidarity and standing with sisterly Republic of Turkey in the fight against terrorism with all its forms and manifestations and whatever its source, expressing heartfelt condolences to the Republic of Turkey, Government and people, as well as to families of the victims, praying to Allah Almighty to grant the injured a speedy recovery. Dr. Adel bin Zaid Altoraifi noted that the Cabinet was briefed on the topics on its agenda, including issues that the Shura Council has shared the Cabinet in their study; and the Cabinet has decided the following: First: The Cabinet authorized the Crown Prince, Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior - or his deputy - to discuss with the Philippine side an extradition draft agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, sign it and submit the final version for further authentication procedures. Second: The Cabinet approved the inclusion of students with special needs with health and physical disabilities in the financial rewards decided for the private education students with special needs. Third: The Cabinet approved the organization of Commission for Job Generation and Anti-Unemployment to be as a General Commission linked organizationally with the President of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs. Fourth: The Cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of housing between the Ministry of Housing of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Public Utilities of the Russian Federation, signed in the city of Saint Petersburg on 01/09/1436 AH. Fifth: The Cabinet approved the following: 1- Renaming the Agency of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for Consumer Affairs to be the Agency of the Ministry for Consumer Protection, in addition to adding a number of tasks to the Agency. 2- Creating a permanent committee for consumer protection at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to be named the Standing Committee for Consumer Protection and to be headed by the Minister of Commerce and Industry with the membership of a number of representatives of the relevant authorities. Sixth: The Cabinet approved extending the commitment contract of the Saudi Arabia Public Transport Company (SAPTCO) for a period of 5 years as of 01/07/1437H. The Cabinet also authorized the Public Transport Authority to conduct a new study to open competition in providing public bus service between the cities of the Kingdom. Seventh: The Cabinet authorized the President of the General Authority of Civil Aviation - or his deputy - to conduct talks with countries with which the Kingdom has concluded agreements in the field of air transport services in order to consider renewing these agreements. Eighth: The Cabinet approved the following: 1- Renewing the membership of Dr. Abdulrahman bin Mohammed Al-Barrak (Representatives of the Ministry of Education) and Dr. Ahmed bin Abdulqadir Al-Muhandis (Representative of Specialists) to the Board of Trustees of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prize for Honoring Inventors and Talented. 2- Appointing the following as members to the Board of Trustees for four years: Dr. Abdullah bin Ibrahim bin Othman (Representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Information); Dr. Rashid bin Mohammed Al-Zahrani (Representative of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation), Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Kathiri and Dr. Bashir Mohammed bin Dabossy (Members of the Private Sector); and Dr. Khalid bin Abdulrahman Al-Dakan and Dr. Munir bin Mohammed Al-Desouki (Members of the Specialists).
