The Council of Ministers stressed the importance of regional cooperation between the Kingdom and other Arab countries, in a meeting Monday at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. King Abdullah chaired the cabinet session and briefed the Council on his meetings with King Muhammad IV of Morocco, King Hamad Bin Eisa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain and Egyptian President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak. Iyad Amin Madani, Minister of Culture and Information said solving regional issues such as the Darfur crisis and the Palestinian conflict. The Council said these conflicts must be solved and based on good intentions and dialogue to form a common voice instead of unilateral decisions which do not serve anyone's interests, the Saudi Press Agency reported. A decision to develop a national strategy for the preservation of species and their natural habitats was issued by the Council to the National Committee for Biodiversity. This adds to a previous decision passed by the Council last week expanding the powers of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development to search for illegally traded endangered species. The council discussed several reports on infrastructure projects dealing with heath, water, electricity, transportation and education. The Council also approved a financial contribution to support the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC) for the implementation of its programs approved during the thirty-fourth OIC meeting held in Islamabad.
