Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense, chaired the Cabinet's session held at Al-Salam palace in Jeddah this evening. At the outset of the meeting, the Cabinet was briefed on the outcome of the talks the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud had with King Mohammed VI of Morocco, the telephone call he made with President Abdulfattah Al-Sisi of Egypt, and the phone call he received from His Highness Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Saeed, Deputy Premier for Cabinet's affairs of Oman. The Cabinet was also briefed on the outcome of the talks the Crown Prince had with Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa of Bahrain which dealt with bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its sister countries and ways of enhancing them and reviewed the overall situations at the regional and international arenas in addition to the developments of the situation in the region. In a statement to SPA following the meeting, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohieddin Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, said the Cabinet reviewed a number of reports relating to the developments of the situations at the Arab, regional and international arenas. In this regard, he quoted the Cabinet as warning from the tragic situation climaxed in Gaza Strip and occupied territories due to the Israeli brutal aggression and the war crimes it is committing against the Palestinian unarmed people, reiterating Saudi Arabia's call for the world community to undertake its responsibility to protect the Palestinian people and confront the genocide being committed by Israel against them. The Cabinet welcomed the Arab Foreign Minister's resolutions issued in a statement after an extraordinary meeting which they held at the Arab League headquarters, underscoring the importance of the world community move to protect the Palestinian people against grievance and aggression. The minister said the Cabinet, then, discussed a number of issues on the domestic affairs, pointing out to the comfort and security accorded to Umrah performers and visitors of the Prophet's mosques who enjoy the services offered under the interest and auspices of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, citing the benefits extended to Umrah performers in Makkah by new expansion of the grand mosque. Dr. Khoja said the Cabinet, then, issued the following decisions, some of them recommended by the Shura Council, the Experts Commission, an affiliate of the Council of Minister, the General Committee of the Cabinet and its subcommittee. First; The Cabinet gave an okay for the current Municipal Councils to proceed with their duties according to the regulations governing them until new councils were formed. The municipal system grants the right of voting and nomination to the membership of municipal councils to male and female citizens alike, once they are eligible, and grants the non-governmental non-profit independent national institutions and associations the right to monitor the elections in their capacity as independent bodies to guarantee transparency and fairness. Second: The Cabinet approved to insert a number of amendments on the regulations preventing non-Saudis to deal with housing of pilgrims, Umrah performers and visitors to Prophet's mosque. Third: The Cabinet approved a number of measures, including licensing the General Investment Fund to establish, alone or with partners from the public or private sectors, companies inside or outside the Kingdom, including partnership with any of them in the currently-operating corporate. Fourth: The Cabinet assigned Saher traffic-monitoring company to automatically and humanitarian monitoring of public transport violations as well as the violations that might be spotted at fixed and movable load-check stations, operating and maintaining them, provided that most of the workforce be selected from Saudi citizens. Fifth: The Cabinet approved that the Stock market authority manages opening a chance to foreign financial institutions to purchase and sell stocks enlisted in the Saudi stock market. Sixth: The Cabinet approved the appointment of Dr. Maen bin Sulaiman bin Salem Hafex as ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Saud bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al-Mutlaq as Minister Plenipotentiary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Cabinet also approved the transfer of Muneef bin Darweesh bin Zayed Al-Simairi from the post of Director General for Administrative and Financial Affairs at the Customs Department in the 14th rank to the position of Director General of King Abdulaziz International airport customs department in the same rank, the transfer of Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Mohammed Al-Khuzaim from Director General of Control Means in the 14th rank to the post of Director General for Administrative and Financial Affairs at the Customs Department in the same rank, the appointment of Mohammed bin Hamid bin Ali Al-Hamid as Legal Consultant of the Ministry of Finance in the 14th rank, and the appointment of Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Hamad bin Dieaj in the position of economic expert at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the 14th rank. The Cabinet was briefed on two annual reports of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the General Establishment for Pensions respectively for two previous fiscal years. The Cabinet's secretariat general will forward the outcome of today's session to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for his Royal consideration.
