Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense, chaired the Cabinet's session at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Monday afternoon. At the outset of the session, the Crown Prince briefed the Cabinet on talks he held with King Juan Carlos of Kingdom of Spain, commending deep relations between the two countries and the keenness of the two sides to enhance them in various fields. The Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohiuddin Khoja said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the session that the Cabinet reviewed a number of issues at local, regional and international arenas. The Cabinet was briefed on the results of the first consultative meeting of Joint Defense Council of Ministers of Defense of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Arab States in the presence of Secretary of State of the United States of America to discuss views on cooperation frameworks to serve the common interests and contribute to the enhancement of regional security and world peace, commending the meeting's confirmation of the desire of both sides to strengthen relations of cooperation and strategic partnership between them and coordinate their efforts to achieve further cooperation to maintain the region's security and stability. The Cabinet welcomed the outcome of the first session of Forum of Arab Economy and Cooperation with the countries of Central Asia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, the signing of bilateral agreements during the forum, Riyadh Declaration issued by the session, and the constructive initiatives for closer cooperation and development shown by the two sides, expressing its hope that will be a strong start to build a constructive cooperation between the Arab Group and the countries of Central Asia and Azerbaijan, including many aspects of cooperation to serve the security and stability of these countries and the world. On the occasion of announcing the winners of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Global Translation Award in its seventh session, the Cabinet expressed its appreciation of the award's success and major international presence, thanks to the special attention given by the King for this award and its development as one of the titles of the Kingdom's attention to invention and inventors emanating from his vision towards the consolidation of the knowledge base society and the cultural and civilizational dialogue among nations and peoples, as translation and understanding of the other are considered as a basis for knowledge and successful and fruitful dialogue. Dr. Khoja said the Cabinet then cast light on the Kingdom's speech in each of the 5th ministerial meeting for clean energy held in Seoul, Korea, and the 14th international energy forum held in Russia, commending the steps taken and the efforts exerted by the Kingdom in the field of clean energy technologies and the great achievements reached in terms of designing, establishment and implementation as well as its call for all countries of the world to show cooperation with the international energy forum to score the organization's goals and enhance its structure at the regional and international arenas. The Cabinet also welcomed the outcome of the Executive Council and the 45th ordinary session of the Arab Information Ministers Council, appreciating the participants' praise to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for drafting the Arab Joint Media strategy to face the phenomenon of terrorism, their approval of the strategyâ€TMs draft, and lauding the Kingdom's efforts in the field of combating terrorism, particularly the intellectual confrontation quantum sufficient to the security interest and cooperation, underscoring the importance of promoting the Arab media system amid the unprecedented development of communication and information technology as well as social media outlets, in view of the impact of this new tool on political, cultural, intellectual and social opinion-making, its commitment to the media honor charter, and its approval to hold a conference on the role of media in confronting the phenomenon of terror which will be hosted by Prince Naif Arab University for Security Sciences in Riyadh. The Cabinet lauded the communique issued by Syria Friends Group meeting in London, including the meeting's decision to hold Al-Assad regime responsible for the terrorism it is practicing against its people and exporting it to the neighboring region, also calling for transferring him to the international criminal court through the UN Security Council, facing the emerge of extremism forces in Syria, the completion of destroying the chemical weapons in Syria, emphasizing the importance of enhancing the efforts to send humanitarian relief to the needy and rejection of the illegal elections announced by the Syrian regime. Dr. Khoja said that, based on the royal directives, the Cabinet was briefed during its session held on 19/05/2014 on a number of issues, including those that were studied by Majlis Al-Shura. The cabinet also was briefed on the outcome of the Cabinet's Bureau of Experts, General Committee and its subcommittee in this regard, and concluded the following: First: After reviewing the report submitted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Cabinet approved the establishment of diplomatic relationships between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kingdom of Swaziland at the level of (Non-Resident Ambassador) and authorized the Minister of Foreign Affairs - or his deputy - to sign the (Protocol) required in this regard. Second: After reviewing the report submitted by the Governor of Eastern region on the public transport plan in Dammam's metropolis and Al-Qatif province, the Cabinet approved a number of arrangements including the following: 1 - Approval of public transport project in Dammam's metropolis and Al-Qatif province in all its components from trains and buses according to preliminary studies, with the implementation of all the elements of the project in full within (seven) years on stages to be adopted by a higher committee chaired by Governor of the Eastern region; membership of Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs; Minister of Finance and Minister of Transport. 2 - Authorizing the secretariat of the Eastern region to establish a private company for public transport to manage the implementation of the project. Third: The Cabinet approved that the Minister of Interior - or his deputy - shall sign a common minutes draft between the Ministry of Interior in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its counterpart in the Great United Kingdom and North Ireland. The Cabinet approved the Commercial Labels System for the GCC countries which was endorsed by the GCC Supreme Council in its 33rd meeting held in the Kingdom of Bahrain on 11 and 12 Safar 1434 H., accrediting the new version to replace the current GCC commercial labels system which was approved by the royal decree No (M/94) dated 23/11/1428 H. The Cabinet approved the following appointments and transfers at the 15th and 14th ranks as follows: 1- Appointment of Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Saeed Al-daleel as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Planning and Development 2- Appointment of Dr. Fahd bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al-Khidr as legal consultant at the general president's office at the 15th rank at the General Presidency for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. 3- Appointment of Fahd bin Sibeyel bin Shidayed Al-Harbi as Mayor of Al-Kharj Province Municipality at the 14th ranks at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs 4- Transfer of Nasser bin Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Zaiban from the position of tax consultant at the 14th rank to the position of director general of Senior Assignees Officers at the same rank at the Zakat (alms) and Income department. The Cabinet was then briefed on two annual reports of Zakat and Income department and the General Presidency for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice each and issued the relevant instructions about them. The Cabinet's secretariat general will forward the outcome of today's session to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to issue his directives in this regard.
