Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz on Monday chaired the Cabinet’s weekly meeting at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.
At the outset of the meeting, the Cabinet expressed its concern over the escalation of violence in Iraq, which has resulted in the death and injury of many innocent people. The Cabinet urged the international community to support and promote Iraqi stability and sovereignty via implementation of United Nations resolutions.
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the meeting, Minister of
Culture and Information Dr Fouad bin Abdulsalam Al-Farsy noted that the Cabinet reviewed Israel’s perpetuation of aggressive policies to derail the peace process and destabilise the region.
The Cabinet urged the international community to pressurise Israel to comply with international law, resolutions of international legitimacy, and agreements between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.
Dr Al-Farsy said that the Cabinet then reviewed a number of items on its domestic agenda and issued the following decisions:
The Council of Ministers decided to amend Article Two of the border security system to read as follows: “The Border Guard is the authority, among domestic security forces, responsible for guarding land borders, territorial waters and sea ports, according to a regulation to be issued by the Interior Ministry.”
The Cabinet decided to cancel the current protection tariff of 20% and reduce customs fees on steel to 5%.
The Minister of Transport or his deputy was authorized to discuss with Jordan, Syria and Lebanon accession of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the protocol for unifying regulations and procedures of the traffic and transit passage of public vehicles previously signed by the three countries.
The Board of Directors of the Irrigation and Sewage Discharge Panel was re-formed for three years, effective from 27/2/1425H. The Board will be led by the Minister of Agriculture and includes as members: Dr Abdulrahman bin Ibrahim bin Abdul Aziz Al-Mi’aqel; Dr Ali bin Saad bin Ibrahim Al-Tikhais; Abdul Aziz bin Sulaiman bin Mohammed Al-Afaleq; Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz Ababtain; and Director General of the Irrigation and Sewage Discharge Panel.
The Cabinet approved the transfer of Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Sinani from the Ministry Education to the Interior Ministry and his appointment as Undersecretary of the Ministry for Regional Affairs. Waleed bin Abdulkareem bin Mohammed Al-Khiraiji was appointed as Ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mansour bin Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al-Khudairi as Undersecretary of Youth Welfare for Youth Affairs; and Bandar bin Abdul Aziz bin Mohammed Al-Waylee as Planning Expert at the Ministry of Economy and Planning.
Source: SPA
