The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet's session at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Monday afternoon. At the outset of the session, the King welcomed Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on the occasion of his selection as Crown Prince, appointment as Deputy Premier, and continuing as Minister of Defense and other missions assigned to him, wishing him all success. The King also expressed his thanks and appreciation to Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for his blessed efforts exerted in the service of the religion and the homeland. The King welcomed Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Interior, wishing him, princes, ministers and officials appointed to their new posts all success. The King expressed his thanks and praise to Allah Almighty so that Muslims completed fasting the holy month of Ramadan and millions of Umrah performers performed Umrah rituals during the holy month, praising Allah Almighty for culminating the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's efforts with full success in the service of the Two Holy Mosques and their visitors and exploiting all capabilities and efforts for their comfort and performance of rituals in secure and comfortable atmospheres. The King also thanked all government and private sectors for their efforts to enable the guests of the Two Holy Mosques of Umrah performers and visitors to perform their rituals easily and comfortably. The King briefed the Cabinet on the telephone calls made during the past few days with a number of leaders of sisterly and friendly countries on bilateral relations and latest developments in the region and the world. Minister of State, Cabinet's Member and Acting Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Essam bin Saad bin Saeed said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency following the session that the members of the Cabinet congratulated Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on the occasion of his selection as Crown Prince and appointment as Deputy Premier, wishing him all success, praying to Allah Almighty to preserve the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince for the service of Islam and Muslims. The Cabinet valued the King's invitation to hold a Saudi-African summit in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the end of this year 2017 or beginning of next year 2018, as the invitation was conveyed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir to President of 29th ordinary African Summit held in the Republic of Ethiopia. The Cabinet also appreciated the welcome of leaders of the G20 summit countries for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's hosting G20 Summit in 2020, in implementation of the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and the work started from now to organize the summit with following up by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and President of the Council for Economic Affairs and Development. In this context, the Cabinet expressed its thanks for the appreciation made by the participants in G20 Hamburg summit of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's efforts in combating terrorism, reiterating that the fight against terrorism and extremism as well as the promotion of the values of moderation are an international responsibility requiring effective cooperation and coordination among States as terrorism has no religion and it is a crime targeting the whole world and does not differentiate between religions and races, expressing thanks and appreciation to the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by Chancellor Angela Merkel for the good organization and management of the activities of the G20 leaders' summit. The Minister said that the Cabinet commended the King's approval to adopt that public health to be a policy and priority in all laws and regulations for disease control and prevention, reflecting the keenness of the leadership and its concern over the health of citizens and the provision of medical care for them in addition to the unlimited support for the health sector to make optimal use of the improvement of health services and raising the efficiency of performance in health facilities. The Cabinet also expressed thanks and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for directing King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid to respond urgently to fight and contain the cholera epidemic in Yemen and to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense for directing King Salman Center to provide $ 66.7 million as a response from the Crown Prince to the World Health Organization (WHO)'s appeal and The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)'s call to fight cholera epidemic, and support for water and environmental sanitation in Yemen to get rid of the epidemic's causes.
