Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard, chaired the Cabinet’s weekly meeting at Al-Yamamah Palace here today.
At the outset of the session, the Cabinet was briefed on the situation in Iraq, notably the collapse of security, and the shortage of water, food and medicine in the country.
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the session, the Minister of Information, Dr Fouad bin Abdulsalam Al-Farsy, said that the Crown Prince reiterated the Kingdom’s concern about the collapse of security in Iraqi cities, and warned that if the situation continues, a humanitarian catastrophe will ensue.
The Crown Prince stressed the urgent necessity of restoring security and stability in Iraq, and guaranteeing the right of the Iraqi people to self-governance.
The Kingdom has prepared an integrated program of humanitarian aid to help alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people. The program will be implemented in cooperation with relevant international organizations.
The Cabinet then continued discussions on the agenda, and took the following decisions:
Military personnel will be entitled to take leave when they are sitting examinations, provided that they prove attendance of the examinations. In the case of emergency, the servicemen can be summoned back to work.
The Cabinet approved the statutes governing the unified license for economic and technical liaison offices, which is similar to the license granted for the Saudi-German Liaison Bureau for Economic Affairs.
Amending Article 10 of the Uncultivated Land Distribution Act, the Cabinet decided that the Ministry of Agriculture should form a Committee constituted by representatives of the Ministries of Agriculture, Justice and Interior. The Committee will be responsible for settling disputes resulting from implementation of the above system, although it will remain possible for claimants to appeal to the Court of Grievances within 60 days, effective from the date of notification of the rule.
The Council of Ministers authorized the Minister of Justice or his deputy to hold talks with the Malaysian side to finalize a draft agreement on cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of the Malaysian Federation.
The Cabinet instructed the relevant Saudi authorities to implement the decision taken at the 23rd Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit meeting, in Doha, Qatar, to set up a customs union among GCC member states, which took effect from 1 January 2003.
The meeting approved the nomination of the following government representatives as members of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for four years: Prince Saud bin Thinayan Al-Saud as Chairman; Eng. Mohammed bin Hamad bin Madhi as Vice-Chairman and Managing Director; Dr Jubarah bin Eid Al-Suraysiri; Salih bin Eid Al-Husseini, and Ahmed bin Ibrahim Al-Hakami. The Cabinet also extended the membership of current non-government representatives who are members of the Board.
Source: SPA
