Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard, chaired the Cabinet’s weekly session at Al-Yamamah Palace here today.
At the outset of the session, in accordance with the Crown Prince’s directives, Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of The Interior, who is also Chairman of the Hajj Higher Committee, briefed the Cabinet on preparations and arrangements made by various government authorities and other establishments concerned with providing services for pilgrims to implement the Hajj plan for this year. The plan is aimed to ensure comfort and safety for pilgrims performing Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam.
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the session, the Minister of Information, Dr Fouad bin Abdulsalam Al-Farsy, said that in the name of the Kingdom’s government and its people, the Crown Prince welcomed pilgrims who have come to the Holy sites to perform Hajj, and prayed to Almighty God to help them perform rituals at their best.
The Crown Prince urged all officials to redouble their efforts and mobilize all material and human capabilities to ensure comfort for pilgrims, and noted that the great projects executed by the government at the holy sites are aimed to guarantee comfort for pilgrims to perform their rituals with ease.
The Crown Prince also urged pilgrims to obey God’s ordinances on performing this pillar and avoiding any disturbance that might hinder the performance of rituals.
The Cabinet was briefed on the latest developments in Palestinian occupied territories, particularly brutal and aggressive practices by Israeli forces and their continuation of war crimes against the Palestinian people, land, institutions and holy sites. The Cabinet emphasized the necessity of adopting a unified international stance to end this aggression against the unarmed Palestinian people.
The meeting then continued discussions on the agenda and issued a number of decisions.
The Cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding for cooperation between the Foreign Ministry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and that of the Republic of Yemen, which the two sides signed in Jiddah on 15 June 2002.
The meeting approved the establishment cooperative societies for marketing agricultural products. The societies will be run under the supervision of farmers. The Cabinet called for the support of cooperative agricultural societies, which can grant or lease land to build stores and distributing centres. Special locations at central agricultural markets should be allocated for the societies, Al-Farsi said, quoting the Cabinet’s statement.
In this regard, the Cabinet also ordered the establishment of a joint committee, consisting of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Agricultural bank, to follow-up the activities of cooperative societies for agricultural marketing, to facilitate their missions and to help resolve their problems.
The Cabinet also stated that the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, in cooperation with the Ministry of Information, should launch a program designed to educate farmers on the importance of the role of cooperative societies for agricultural marketing.
The Cabinet then authorized the Minister of Communications or his deputy to discuss with the Italian side a draft agreement on cooperation between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Republic of Italy in the field of maritime transportation.
Source: SPA
