Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense, chaired the Cabinet's session at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Monday afternoon. In a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the session, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohieddin Khoja, the Minister of Culture and Information, said that the Cabinet reviewed a number of reports on the development of the situations at regional and international arenas. In regard to Iran and group 5+1's agreement, the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had viewed carefully the Geneva Agreement of the group (5+1) and Iran around the Iranian nuclear program on 21 Muharram 1435, November 24 2013. The Kingdom viewed the agreement as a primary step towards a comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear program. As far as good intentions are provided and as long as it concludes to a Middle East and gulf region free of all weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. Hoping that such a step will be followed by more important steps leading to guarantee the right for all countries in the region to peacefully use nuclear energy. Dr. Khoja said that the Crown Prince briefed the Cabinet on the audiences held by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud with Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait and Emir Tammim bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Qatar in the interest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Member States and their peoples and the Arab and Islamic nations. The Crown Prince briefed the Cabinet on the Crown Prince's audience with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, expressing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stance towards supporting the Palestinian cause and expressing a condemnation of the Israeli plans to build settlements and blatant attacks on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. The Cabinet addressed a number of international events towards many summits, conferences and meetings, including the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit held in Kuwait where the Kingdom stressed necessity to strengthen cooperation and remove obstacles among Arab and African countries and exert more efforts to develop relations between the two sides in the fields of development of mutual trade and increasing flow of investments. The Cabinet expressed satisfaction with the vote of the United National General Assembly regarding approval unanimously of a draft resolution submitted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on behalf of 66 member states in the international organization, for promoting and protecting human rights of the Syrian people which are targeted by the Syrian government with all sorts of murder and genocide, describing it as a confirmation on the supreme principles for the human rights, which are among the pillars of the United Nations. The cabinet also reiterated the Kingdom's call for the need to establish the principles of equality and parity as common human denominators among followers of religions and cultures as well as to adopt dialog as the only means to arrive at these denominators with the overall purpose of raising a shared intellectual awareness paving the way for a cultural and scientific presence beneficial to all communities. The Kingdom's call was announced during the conference titled 'The Image of The Other' recently organized by the Vienna-based King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue with the participation of over 500 religious and education figures from 90 countries worldwide. The Kingdom also highlighted at the 19th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Warsaw the importance for all new international agreements scheduled for the year 2015 to be comprehensive and balanced in nature as well as consisting of all discussion points raised and agreed upon at the previous convention, including reduction of emissions, adaptability to climate change, funding and transfer of new technologies to developing countries. Dr. Khoja added that the cabinet expressed its condemnation of the recent terrorist bombings in Beirut, reiterating the Kingdom's stance against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Locally, the Cabinet extended its thanks to and appreciation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for issuing a number of royal decrees approving a set of legal regulations including systems of religious litigation procedures, criminal procedures and pleading procedures before the court of grievances thus successfully wrapping up a very important phase of the King Abdullah Project for the Improvement of Judicial System. Such measures serve as essential tools enhancing the start of the project, especially after these measures have been fully studied and reviewed paving the way for improvement and modernization of the judicial system. The cabinet also expressed its appreciation of the important role of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Project for the Judicial System, especially the introduction of new technologies, setting up an advanced information center, and doubling the number of judges and solicitors. Such improvements helped show the fair and just nature of the Islamic Sharia and reinforce integrity and transparency through enhancing the role of electronic monitoring. The cabinet also praised the on-going efforts to make court proceedings public; therefore, giving organizations and individuals alike access to such proceedings. The Cabinet asked Allah Almighty to reward the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for his continuous and great support for developing judiciary system and his follow-up to ensure good work in the field of justice. The Cabinet discussed a number of activities and conferences held under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, including 35th King Abdulaziz International Competition for the Holy Quran Memorization, Intonation and Interpretation which is organized by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance in Makkah; 21st International Islamic Fiqh (Jurisprudence) Academy Conference hosted by Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic University, and Under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, 2nd Saudi International Conference for Information Technology organized by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). On the domestic field, the Cabinet listened from Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Interior, on meetings of the security bodies and the results of the field implementation of residence (Iqama) regulations, wishing all success for the security bodies. Dr. Khoja said that the, the Cabinet continued discussion of its agenda and issued the following decisions: The Cabinet authorized the Crown Prince, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense -or his deputy- to discuss and sign with the Polish side a draft agreement between the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the government of the Republic of Poland for cooperation in the field of defense. The Cabinet approved establishment of diplomatic relations between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of Trinidad and Tobago at the level of non-resident ambassador. The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Foreign Affairs -or his deputy- to sign the protocol. The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Finance -or his deputy- to sign a draft agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of People's Democratic Republic of Algeria regarding the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with regard to taxes on income and on capital. The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Finance -or his deputy- to sign a draft agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of Kyrgyz Republic regarding avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with regard to taxes on income and on capital. The Cabinet approved the appointment of Dr. Rashid bin Mohammed Al-Zahrani as a member of Trustees Council of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' Prize for Honoring Inventors and Talented, as a representative of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation. The Cabinet approved appointments as follows: 1- Fahd bin Jarallah Al-Jarallah is appointed to the post of undersecretary for documentation affairs (rank 15) at the Ministry of Justice. 2- Abdulaziz bin Ameer bin Ali Al-Ameer is appointed to the post of undersecretary for central services (rank 15) at the Ministry of Finance. 3- Dr. Abed bin Abdullah bin Jaber Al-Saoudon is transferred from the post of petroleum advisor (rank 15) to the post of undersecretary for companies affairs (rank 15) at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. 4- Eng. Seraj bin Ahamd bin Ali Al-Ghamdi is appointed to the post of head of Khamis Mushait Province Principality (rank 14) at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs. 5- Eng. Abdulaziz bin Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Thunyan is appointed to the post of civil engineer consultant (rank 14) at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs. 6- Abdullah bin Mufleh bin Abdullah Al-Sharif is appointed to the post of head of notary office (rank 14) at the Ministry of Justice. 7- Saleh bin Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al-Aboudi is appointed to the post of assistant undersecretary for financial and accounts affairs (rank 14) at the Ministry of Finance. The Cabinet also discussed a number of issues on its agenda, including the fiscal reports of the Ministry of Endowments, Call and Guidance and Ministry of Labor, for previous years.
