Shoura Council Chairman Saleh Bin Humeid had a long list of achievements of the past year to announce Saturday at the start of the consultative body's fourth year. Bin Humeid, in his speech, paid tribute to the King for his strong support to the Shoura, The Chairman said the Shoura has been serving the country and people through the Cabinet since the Cabinet's decisions are based on the decisions of the Shoura. Such decisions last year included: • The new judicial system, the grievances court and the working mechanism drawn up for these two systems as part of an integrated plan to comprehensively develop the judicial system. The King approved allocation of SR7 billion in this regard. • Regulations for determining the urban areas • The national plan for telecommunications and information technology • The system for combating ‘information crimes' • The system of electronic dealings • The system of the General Commission for Food and Medicine Bin Humied said these systems were part of several subjects studied by the Shoura last year. In all during the year, the Shoura issued 21 statutes or decisions, 31 agreements or treaties, and 19 government reports. These include the following: • The international agreement for curbing terror attacks • The international agreement for curbing terrorism financing • The protocol for combating the manufacture of firearms and their parts, and illegally trading in them • The international agreement for curbing nuclear terrorism activities. • The system of the Supreme Commission for Housing and Real Estate Development. - Amendment in the Traffic System. - The system of Combating Commercial Fraud. - Organizing health endowment. - Credit Information System. - The system of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. - The system of Private Associations and Institutions. The Shoura has its own mechanisms to discuss issues and evaluate the performance. For instance, the Council asks ministers and agency heads to appear before the Council to discuss related issues. During the past year, a number of Shoura sessions were attended by princes, ministers and officials, namely: the Interior Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Secretary General of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Minister of Finance, Minister of Labor and Minister of Culture and Information. The participation of the Shoura in formulating programs of economic and social reform in the Kingdom has increased over the past few years through its regulatory, supervisory and advisory role. The Council drafted and reviewed many important regulations that have had a significant impact on promoting the development march of our country, such as the Justice System, the Jurisprudence System and the National Plan for Communications and Information Technology as well as other regulations relating to traffic, work, housing, food, medicine, anti-corruption and public funds protection. The Council also exercised its regulatory role through discussing the annual reports provided by the ministries and various government agencies in order to achieve more effective performance. Emanating from the King's directives to prepare strategic plans for the next five years, the Council seeks to contribute to the government work towards a culture based on the effectiveness of performance. In the field of Arab, Islamic and International parliamentary activities, the Council's delegations participated in several international meetings and conferences, for example: • 1st Meeting of Heads of GCC Shoura, Representative, National and National Councils in Qatar. • 5th Session of the Conference of the Parliamentary Union of OIC Member States in Egypt. • 1st Ordinary Session of the Arab Transitional Parliament in Egypt. • 11th Afro-Arab Parliamentary Conference in Syria. • General Meeting of International Parliamentary Union in Geneva. • Meetings of the 3rd General Assembly of International Parliamentary Union for Social Service in Korea. • Meeting of the 2nd General Assembly of Asian Parliaments in Iran. • Meeting of International Parliamentary Union in Indonesia. The Friendship Committees and the Foreign Affairs Committee affiliated to the Council visited China, Germany, Norway and Russia. The Council received a number of heads of Parliamentary Councils and parliamentary delegations from the United States of America, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. In all these meetings and participations, the Council's representatives clarify the Kingdom's policy towards Arab, Islamic and international issues, focusing on the efforts exerted by the government as regards spreading global peace and addressing regional issues such as the situation in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia and Darfur in addition to the assistance provided by the Kingdom to all peoples, especially the Arab and Muslim peoples afflicted by crises or natural disasters. In order to enhance the Council's relations with foreign parliaments and councils, a number of Muslim parliamentarians were invited to perform Haj during 1428H at the expense of the Government. A number of parliamentary figures came during the previous Haj season. They were from Bahrain, Nepal, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, South Africa and Togo. They all performed Haj and thanked the Monarch for generous hospitality and warm reception as well as facilitating the performance of Haj, Bin Humeid said. ”At the domestic level during the past year, our country has witnessed many important achievements,” he said, “These include the issuance of the Regulations of Allegiance-Pledge Commission as well as the Royal Order to form the Allegiance Commission, which are an extension of your (King Abdullah's) reform system to complete the rotation of rule system when Allegiance-Pledge Commission was announced in Ramadan 1427H,” he said. __
