The Cabinet on Monday approved the establishment of a non-governmental body under the name Saudi Association for Quality (SAQ), to be run under the supervision of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The SAQ is tasked with promoting the concept of quality in both the government and private sectors to improve services, products and information. The weekly session, held in Jeddah and presided over by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, said that the Kingdom's strategy for the goals focused on sustainable development and introducing it into the wider discourse through policies and development programs. Most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Cabinet noted, had already been accomplished ahead of schedule. The Cabinet described the 65th meeting of the UN General Assembly as an opportunity to “review and improve national and international efforts towards achieving the goals of the international community”, laying particular importance at the “approaching year of 2015, the deadline for the MDGs”. Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, said the King described the Kingdom's 80th National Day celebrations as a “reminder of the efforts of the devoted men who have worked for the security and stability of this land” and a “manifestation of national unity”. The King then gave a briefing on recent contacts with the leaders of other countries on developments in the international arena and the Kingdom's policies towards them. Ministers heard reports on a number of international developments, including the communiqué of the seventh Iraq Neighboring Countries Conference in Bahrain, and the resolutions issued at the 134th meeting of the Arab League's Council of Foreign Ministers. The meeting lauded the King's approval for the establishment of the King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Aal Saud International Foundation for Philanthropic and Humanitarian Services, as well as the King's inauguration in Ramadan of the King Abdullah Zamzam Water Project, carried out at his expense. The state-of-the-art SR700-million project ensures the purity of Zamzam water once extracted from the well and distributes it automatically. Ministers also heard a summary of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency's annual report covering 2009 and the first quarter of the current year.
