Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, the Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard, chaired the Cabinet's weekly session at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Monday.
At the outset of the session, the Crown Prince stressed the Kingdom's unrelentless pursuit of terrorists and any suspects who try to destabilize the Kingdom's security or infringe on its principal fundamentals. The Kingdom will continue seeking, chasing and arresting the terrorists. The Kingdom will finish the task of stamping out terrorism and the terrorists who have targeted the homeland's security and safety.
The Crown Prince expressed his appreciation of all military sectors, particularly the security staff, for their efforts in eliminating the leaders of a number of terror groups and stopping their attacks. The Crown Prince also appreciated the cooperation between the Saudi citizens and residents and the security men.
Then the Crown Prince briefed the Cabinet on the talks held with Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, on the latest developments at the international arena, with the Palestinian cause at the top of the agenda, followed by the situation in Iraq, bilateral relations between the two friendly countries and their future aspects, and Britain's turn in taking over the presidency of the European Union.
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency following the session, the Minister of Culture and Information, Iyad bin Amin Madani, said that the Cabinet was satisfied with the outcome of the 32nd meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Conference, recently concluded in Sanaa, Yemen, which serve the interests of joint Islamic actions at political, economic, developmental and social levels.
The Cabinet reaffirmed that the Organization's role and enhancement of its presence at the international arena will depend on the support provided by its member states and on fulfilling their commitments. The Cabinet pointed to the Kingdom's continued commitments and its fulfilling of all its obligations towards the Organization.
On the developments regarding the Palestinian cause, the Cabinet called on all peace-loving nations to stand against the grave violations committed daily by Israeli forces in Palestinian territories, including the destruction of buildings and lands in order to erect the wall in the West Bank which will segregate Palestinians and Israelis.
With regard to Iraq, the Cabinet renewed its call for stopping the acts of violence and destruction, which have led to the killing of more innocent people and destruction of Iraq's infrastructure.
The Minister of Culture and Information said the Cabinet then reviewed the local items on its agenda and issued the following decisions:
The Cabinet approved the admission of the Kingdom to the Agreement on United Nations Privileges and Immunities, which was endorsed by the UN General Assembly on 13 February 1946; the Cabinet recorded its reservation concerning some of its articles in light of the decision of Shura Council number 5/2 dated 9/3/1426H.
The Cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni counterpart in the field of Islamic affairs and endowments, which aims to increase cooperation in introducing Islam to the outside world, showing its advantages and tolerance and its rejection of extremism, and also encourage the exchange of experiences in mosques.
The Cabinet also held the Ministry of Higher Education responsible for covering the costs of medical treatment of the father of a student on scholarship abroad if the son officially sponsors his ailing or old father.
The Minister of Transport or his deputy was authorized to sign the protocol of unifying the rules and procedures of passage of vehicles across (transit) or within countries which are party to the protocal.
The Cabinet approved an Agreement on agricultural cooperation between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen.
The Cabinet also approved taking the necessary actions to implement electronic transactions between governmental department, including the setting up of an internal committee on electronic dealings in each department which will report to the highest official in that department. Among its main objectives is the supervision of the implementation of its own electronic transactions plan.
