Electing H. H. Prince Nayef as Crown Prince .. and H. H. Prince Salmman as Minister of Defense Historical and royal orders addressing all needs of Saudi citizens..budget set a new record The death of Prince Sultan made the nation lose one of its great symbols and leaders The GCC Cooperation Council declares the transition from Cooperation to Union The KSA moves to 16 largest rank in the world of regulating stock market. A few hours left in 2011. Nations look into 2012 with new wishes, seeking to achieve all aspirations so that 2012 will be blessing to all and a good chance for love and peace. 2011 witnessed a lot of events and changes. The past year lined in its contemporary history many achievements for the kingdom and its leader; the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, one of the most prominent advocates of peace, dialogue and solidarity and key decision-makers in the world. This is in accordance with the sayings of world leaders and economists and the kingdom has become a popular destination for them. The King's expertise, leaderships skills and visits exchanged with the leaders of Arab, Islamic and friendly countries enabled him to foster the political, economic and commercial role of the kingdom in the region and the world. The kingdom plays a vital role in the world events and decision making. Also the active participation of the kingdom in the Economic Group of Twenty reflected positively on the process of Arab solidarity and international security and peace. In September of this year was at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York to sign an agreement of establishing the "United Nations Centre for Counter-Terrorism." The Two Holy Mosques - may God protect him - has called for this establishment in Riyadh in 2005 at the International Conference on Combating Terrorism. More than 60 delegates from all over the world attended this conference. The agreement was signed between the Kingdom and the United Nations by His Royal Highness Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Saudi delegation to the meetings of the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations and Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations. The Kingdom announced its contribution of ten million dollars to cover its budget for three years and confirmed its support for all efforts to combat terrorism. In October 2011, His Highness the Minister of Foreign Affairs signed in the Austrian capital Vienna with the Vice Chancellor and Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria Dr. Michael Hbindlgr, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain, Trinidad Khmonas Garcia - Hezirya, the Convention on the establishment of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Global Dialogue Center. This was done in the presence of representatives of international bodies and organizations and bodies of the religious and cultural dialogue, and a number of social figures and representatives of the media. In the field of the Kingdom's excellent relations with countries of the world, visits of many kings, presidents and leaders to the kingdom came to form another tributary of the foreign policy of the kingdom and its commitment to international peace and security. The Saudi King - may Allah protect him - has hold talks with leaders and officials in those countries on the unity of the Arab nation, serving the Islamic nation and supporting the kingdom's relations with friendly countries. Thanks to God, the meetings were successful and reflected positively on the progress of Arab solidarity and international security and peace. Speaking of the humanitarian work of the KSA, the kingdom has been so pro-active in supporting its brothers in all the continents in times of disasters. Being aware of the responsibilities towards the international society and due to current critical times the region is experiencing, the kingdom doubled its diplomatic efforts on both regional and international levels by directing people towards dialogue and consultation and giving priority to the voice of reason and wisdom to avoid threats and risks through peaceful means. This is called to by our Islamic religion, Arab and human values. The record of this year 2011 had good news for the people of the Kingdom and the world; the recover of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - may God protect him. He has left the hospital healthy and with blessings from Allah to come back to his blessed march in supporting development and good deeds. The end of 2011 also marked the Kingdom's historic budget close to (690) billion riyals for the coming fiscal year 2012 so that the Kingdom will continue carrying out its ambition and achievement. The budget of 2010 was (580) billion riyals; an increase of (110) billion riyals despite of the world economic conditions including sums dedicated for all types of improvements in the Kingdom from education to health and social sectors and others. Moreover, the adoption of new projects in various sectors has been done so that balanced development between regions is going to be achieved. In the budget of 2012, (265) billion riyals have been allocated to be spent on new and existing enterprises. This will result in higher rates of economic growth and increased employment opportunities. There is also an adoption of a number of programs and development projects included in the Ninth Development Plan to increase some capital development funds and strengthen the state reserves. Proceeding from the keenness of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and to continue to address the needs of KSA citizens' children in various parts of life and strive to provide them with all means of comfort and confidence and a decent life, H. H. issued - may God protect him - in March this year a number of royal orders to carry out the entire needs of the citizens such as support for development funds, including support for capital Real Estate Development Fund with an additional amount of forty thousand million riyals for completing applications for loans and speed up the process of obtaining a loan. This comes also with the adoption of the construction of five hundred thousand housing units in all regions of the Kingdom and the allocation of a lump sum to that of two hundred and fifty billion riyals in addition to raising the value of the upper limit of the loan from the residential real estate development fund of three hundred thousand riyals to be five hundred thousand riyals. The royal orders also included precious limiting cost of living allowance equal to (15%) of the basic salary of citizens and the adoption of the minimum salaries of all categories of workers in the state of Saudis three thousand riyals per month. In this year, there was an establishment of the Ministry of Housing holding direct responsibility for all matters related to its lands in different places of the Kingdom. The pinnacle achievement of the Kingdom was to complete the service projects of the Two Holy Mosques and the holy sites and to facilitate the performance of rituals to the pilgrims' comfort and peace of mind by developing the services for all pilgrims and completing the facilities of the Jamarat Bridge in addition to the completion along the tunnels, intersections, bridges. This comes along with completion of the train of feelings and the expansion effort; the matter that contributed to the will of God in facilitating the movement of pilgrims in the holy sites. On the economic level, all the recommendations of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and H. H. the Crown Prince - may Allah protect them - led to a comprehensive economic reform and to intensified efforts to improve the business environment in the country and launch a comprehensive program to resolve the difficulties facing domestic investment, foreign and joint cooperation between all related government bodies for placing the Kingdom on the list of the top ten countries that conducted economic reforms which was reflected positively on its classification in the report of Business Performance issued by the World Bank in 2010. Not only this, the Kingdom also was nominated of the best class investment environment - position no. 8 out of 183 countries. The Kingdom was submitted to the seventh position in the Global Competitiveness Report for 2011, after it had been in place twenty-one in last year report 2010. The ranking of the Kingdom in the organization of the stock market jumped into the rank 16 in the world this year. It was in the position 26 in 2010 and 64 in 2009 in accordance with (2011Global Competitiveness Report) prepared and published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Geneva. The Kingdom has become one of the twenty major economic countries in the world; the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques - may God protect him - participated in the top twenty in Washington 2008 and London 2009, and Toronto 2010. Once again, the IMF report commended on the Kingdom's policy of fiscal and monetary which contributed to easing the global financial crisis on the Kingdom's economy, and the positive evaluation of the durability and safety of the banking system in addition to the role of the specialized government lending institutions to provide credit to small and medium enterprises, and the government's strategy to promote efficient use of resources and investment in renewable energy and support of the Fund exchange rate policy of the Saudi riyal and mentioning the progress made by the Kingdom in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. Members of the Momentary Fund also praised the leading role played by Saudi Arabia to stabilize oil markets and the continued implementation of the plans to expand its production capacity. The report of the World Bank on the investment climate for the year (2011 m) included classification of the kingdom in position No. (11) eleven of the (183) one hundred and eighty three evaluated regulations and laws governing the investment climate. The Kingdom moved from its position No. (13) in 2010 to this prominent position. The Kingdom's second to none huge achievement was to complete service projects of the Two Holy Mosques and the holy sites and to facilitate the performance of rituals to the pilgrims' comfort and peace of mind by developing all services to the pilgrims and completeness of the facilities the Jamarat Bridge and the completion along the tunnels, intersections, bridges, and completion of the train of feelings and the completion of the expansion effort, which contributed to the will of God in facilitating the movement of pilgrims in the holy sites. The Kingdom and both Arab and Islamic nations lost one of its great symbols and leaders by the death of His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud - God's mercy upon his soul. With great sadness and pain, the nation said goodbye to its late; a man with second to none ambition known for his great activities and charity acts. His good deeds expanded to cover a large portion of time and place after an illuminated march reflected his commitment, sincerity and generosity of this blessed country. This year also witnessed the Royal Order selection of H.R.H. Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and the appointment of his Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, to sustain faithfully the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in the leadership of state affairs and to continue the march of progress and development and the advancement of civilization and human progress so as to place the Kingdom at its ideal position among nations. On the occasion of sponsoring the Annual Meeting for the Third Year of the Fifth Session of the Shura Council, H. H. - may Allah protect him - delivered a speech and announced his decision: firstly, the participation of women in the Shura Council as members from next session in accordance with Shariah rules. Secondly and right from the next session, women have the right to nominate themselves and also the right to participate in the nomination of candidates according to the true Islamic guidelines. On the level of the Cooperation Council of the Arab Gulf States, H. H. the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - may Allah protect him - started the meetings of the thirty-second session of the Supreme Council for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Gulf States at Dir'iya Palace in Riyadh. The GCC leaders warmly welcomed and blessed the proposal contained in the letter of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques - may God protect him - to move from cooperation to the Union. Also a three-member authority from each country is to be formed to study it from different aspects.
