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 Kings, Presidents, Emirs, Premiers and Ministers, the leaders and representatives of the countries who attended the closing maneuver of North Thunder Exercise and the military parade of Saudi Armed Forces and the participating forces from sisterly countries, confirming that the exercise showed keenness to strengthen military ties between the brothers and friends and maintain the security and stability by raising the level of combating readiness and assessing the ability to manage military operations aiming to achieve the unity of ranks and ward off dangers facing Arab and Islamic nations. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on the outcomes of his receptions of Kings, Presidents, Emirs, Premiers and Ministers who came to attend the closing maneuver of North Thunder Exercise and the military parade; his talks held on the sidelines of the closing maneuver with Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of State of Kuwait, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of Arab Republic of Egypt, Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif; the message received from the President of Republic of Guinea-Bissau; and the outcomes of his meetings with President Dr. Mulatu Teshome of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, United States Secretary of State John Kerry, and European Union Special Representative for Middle East Peace Process Fernando Jntleyna. 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 congratulated the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Crown Prince and the Deputy Crown Prince on the success of the closing maneuver of North Thunder Exercise and the military parade associated with the exercise with the participation of Saudi Armed Forces and forces from a number of countries in the presence of Kings, Presidents, Emirs, Premiers and Ministers, the leaders and representatives of 20 sisterly countries, commending all efforts exerted by the concerned authorities to organize the exercise which achieved its planned objectives where all participants exerted outstanding efforts to carry out the tasks and duties assigned to them in this exercise which has enjoyed regional and international interest. Dr. Altoraifi said that the Cabinet reviewed a number of reports on the latest developments on Arab, Islamic and international arenas, and commended the results of the 5th joint meeting between Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Arab States and their counterparts of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Kingdom of Morocco; the common Ministerial meeting with Deputy Premier and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Yemen; the meetings of the 138th session of the Council and the 24th meeting of the Ministers of Information of the GCC's member countries, and what has been included in the final statements of firm positions and visions on various events, and what has been expressed towards the ongoing progress in joint action and coordination of positions and efforts in this regard. The Cabinet praised the decisions issued by the 145th session of the Arab League Council at the level of foreign ministers recently concluded in Cairo, stressing that the Arab League Council's decision on considering the so-called "Hezbollah" as a terrorist organization and denunciation of Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries embodies keenness to combat terrorism and counter whoever supports it or tries to stir up sectarian strife to undermine security and stability in contravention of good neighborliness and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the international law. The Cabinet also pointed, in this regard, to the Arab Interior Ministers' condemnation and denunciation, in their meeting recently held in Tunisia of the dangerous practices and activities of the terrorist "Hezbollah" to destabilize security and social peace in a number of Arab states. The Cabinet welcomed the recommendations and resolutions issued by the Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Palestine recently held in Jakarta, Indonesia on March 6 - 7, 2016, and its appeal to the whole world that the worrying increase in the armed conflicts in the Muslim world and violent extremism shouldn't distract international attention from the cause of Palestine and Al-Quds, which should remain the core question of the Islamic nation.
