Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz today chaired the weekly Cabinet meeting at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.
At the outset of the meeting, the King briefed the Cabinet regarding recent meetings and consultations held with the leaders of other countries on developments in the international arena.
King Fahd said that current conflicts in the international arena make imperative that that international community and the United Nations cooperate to strengthen dialogue, improve understanding between nations and civilizations, spread the culture of peace, strengthen the principles of justice, tolerance and equality, and renounce violence, injustice and racial discrimination.
The Cabinet urged the United Nations and the international community to intervene to halt Israel’s aggressive policies towards the Palestinian people, demolition of their houses, escalation of racial discrimination and acts of terrorism in the Gaza Strip, particularly Jabalya Camp and Rafah.
The Cabinet demanded international action to stop Israeli terrorist practices and aggression aimed at destroying the Palestinian people, and urged the Quartet Committee and United Nations Security Council to adopt a strict stance against these criminal Israeli acts that violate human rights and dignity.
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the session, the Minister of Culture and Information Dr Fouad bin Abdulsalam Al-Farsy said that the Kingdom reiterated its call for all countries to mobilize their efforts to enhance international cooperation to combat terrorism and its financers. Terrorism is a dangerous international phenomenon that should be confronted by the solidarity and cooperation of all countries.
King Fahd reiterated the Kingdom’s condemnation of all forms of terrorism, and stressed its full support of United Nations Security Council resolutions and its commitment to cooperate with the international community to eradicate terrorism.
The Kingdom is to host an international conference on combating terrorism in February 2005, which reflects its firm stand against terrorism and keenness to promote dialogue and cooperation to combat it, in all its forms.
Reviewing a report on the Campaign of National Awareness and Water Conservation launched on Saturday, the Cabinet emphasized the importance of water rationalisation. The Cabinet welcomed Crown Prince Abdullah’s speech on the occasion, which stressed the necessity of conserving and preserving water resources.
The Council then reviewed items on its domestic agenda and issued the following decisions:
The Cabinet endorsed the final accounts of King Fahd National Library for the fiscal year 1423-1424H.
An additional member, representing the Saudi Geological Survey Commission, was added to the board of the Consultative Commission for Maritime Scientific Research.
The Cabinet approved a proposal submitted by the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology to nominate Eng. Rashid bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rashid, Dr Saad bin Atiyyah Al-Ghamdi and Dr Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Abdul Qader as private sector representatives on the board of directors at the Saudi Posts Establishment for three years, effective from issuance of the decision.
The Council of Ministers approved the recommendations of the symposium entitled “Ways of enhancing cooperation to achieve the objectives of comprehensive auditing and control of performance,” recently held in the Kingdom.
The Cabinet approved the appointment of Prince Dr Turki bin Saud bin Mohammed Al-Saud as Vice President of King Abdul Aziz City for Sciences and Technology for Research Institutes, and Dr Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al-Aqla as Director General of the Girls Education Department at the Jeddah branch of the Ministry of Education.
Source: SPA
