The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz chaired the Cabinet's weekly session held at the Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Monday.
At the outset of the session, the King briefed the Cabinet on his meetings with the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. The meetings focused on the situations and latest developments at the regional and international arenas, particularly the Palestinian cause, the situation in Iraq, the situation following the issue of Judge Detliv Mehlis' report, the International Investigator, on the assassination of the former Lebanese Premier, Rafik Al-Hariri, and the efforts being exerted by the United Nations and the Arab League on various issues of concern to the region and the world.
The King emphasized the importance of these two organizations performing their roles at the Arab and international arenas to enhance security and peace, and he renewed the Kingdom's support for all efforts pertaining to the worthy interest of stability and safety for the region and all the countries and peoples in the world.
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 reviewed the Monarch's inauguration of the permanent headquarters of the International Energy Forum on Saturday. The Forum was the outcome of the King's initiative to set up a continual mechanism to achieve fruitful dialogue and consultation between oil producing and exporting countries and importing countries to maintain stability in the oil market and preserve the interests of both sides.
The Cabinet commended the contents of the King's speech at the Forum, which clearly highlighted the Kingdom's oil policy and its interest in the stability of the oil market and in meeting the market's needs. The speech also urged consuming countries to reconsider their taxes imposed on oil products and their responsibility for speculations in the oil market. The Cabinet also lauded the Kingdom's keenness on achieving a reasonable and fair oil price and providing sufficient petroleum supplies for all consumers, provided that the increase in roducing capacity would not infringe on and harm the fields for the next generations.
The Cabinet hoped that the efforts of the Forum's Secretariat General would have the effective impact on enhancing cooperation and mutual understanding between producers and consumers.
Then the Cabinet was briefed by Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General on his visit to Egypt and his talks with Egypt's President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak on the latest developments at the Arab and international arenas, particularly the situations in Iraq and Palestine, the stands of the two countries towards them for the enhancement of joint Arab action and ways of enhancing the cooperation existing between the two fraternal countries.
On the situation in Iraq, the Kingdom hoped that Iraq's National Reconciliation Conference, currently being held in Cairo, would achieve reconciliation among all Iraqis, which is a major requisite for the success of the current political process and the main guarantee for maintaining Iraq's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.
The Minister noted that the Cabinet expressed its great pleasure over the approval by the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial council of the Kingdom's accession to the WTO. The Kingdom will have full membership at the council's meeting in Hong Kong in mid-December.
The Cabinet emphasized the importance of joining the WTO and the necessity for all sectors to meet the requirements of this accession, to enable the Kingdom to compete in world economy within the WTO framework, which organizes the world trade and comprises the greater majority of countries in the world.
On local matters, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed his appreciation of citizens of Makkah for their noble, sincere and national feelings during the festival.
"The government of this country, honored by Almighty Allah to serve Islam and Muslims, particularly the two holy mosques in Makkah and Madinah, will set no limits on the development of the services of Islamic sanctuaries and will proceed on this track", the Monarch told the Cabinet.
Concluding his statement, Minister Iyad Madani said the Cabinet then reviewed the local items on its agenda and issued the following decisions:
Upon a report submitted by the Minister of Economy and Planning, the Cabinet approved the 8th development plan for the fiscal years 1425/1426 H - 1429/1430 H.
Highlights of the plan are the strategy to improve the standards of living and quality of life for people and offer job opportunities for citizens, to continue to develop education and training and expand the area of applied sciences and technology.
Among the main objectives of the plan is to diversify the economic base, improve the national economy's productivity, enhance its competitive abilities through focusing on strategic and transformative industries, particularly densely-used industries in energy and its by-products, including natural gas, mining, tourism and information technology industries, through eliminating obstacles for investments and expediting the implementation of privatization strategy.
Within the development plan's objectives are increasing the private sector's contribution to the economic development, developing science, technology and information systems and supporting scientific research.
Increasing the participation of Saudi women, enhancing the role of families in the society, and preserving its Islamic and Arab values through developing the abilities of women and eradicating the obstacles stopping their participation in economic and development activities, also run within the plan's objectives.
The plan also contains a number of programs and projects pertinent to the welfare of citizens and improvement of their standard of living.
The Cabinet also approved the civil aviation tariff bill which, among other things, bars any plane landing in the Kingdom's territory, from flying out before settling the official landing tariffs, directly and on the spot, or through an accredited agent, also directly and on the spot or later.
The bill also includes the categories on which the landing tariffs will be levied.
The Cabinet also lifted the economic sanctions it had imposed on Iraq, citing the absence of the reasons that led to the decision at the time.
The Cabinet also approved the Electricity System which aims to upgrade power services that mainly target the consumers' welfare and protect their rights, encouraging the private sector to contribute to and participate in the systematic expansion of power industry, its development and protection of investments and enable it to gain fair economic yields.
The new system also aims to ensure that the electricity is committed to the policies of the state, its orientation and requirements related to the security of power supply, economic development and society welfare.
It also aims to provide a regular framework for electricity industry and to work to create an appropriate environment to encourage legal competition in the field of electricity and encourage local and international investments in the power industry.
The Cabinet approved the appointment of Prince Khalid bin Faisal bin Turki Al Saud as Advisor at the headquarters of the National Guard; Abdul-Ghani bin Hamid bin Mohammed Khallaf as Assistant Director General for National Information Center at the Ministry of Interior and Othman bin Abdullah bin Abdulmohsin Althabet as Director General of the Minister's office at the Ministry of Higher Education.
