The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz chaired the Cabinet's weekly session held at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Monday.
At the outset of the session, the King briefed the Cabinet on his contacts, consultations and the messages received from the leaders of states.
The Monarch expressed his satisfaction over the reasonable understanding of the situation in Iraq and the necessity for completing the international investigation into the circumstances of the killing of the former Lebanese Premier, Rafik Al-Hariri.
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 praised, in this context, the favorable response by the Syrian leadership to the International Investigation Committee. The Kingdom appreciates the guarantees of the Committee to respect Syria's national sovereignty and the rights of its citizens.
On the situation in Iraq, the Cabinet looks forward to the holding of the up-coming parliamentary elections, which will take into consideration representation of all strata and national orientation in the elected parliament and will uphold the independent will of the Iraqi people.
The Minister of Culture and Information added that the Cabinet emphasized the importance of the extraordinary Islamic Summit due to start in Makkah on 6 December and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz’s call for the Summit to seize this opportunity to face up to self-searching, enhance what is common, build the rank, promote unity, and seek points of unity and joint action.
On domestic affairs, the Cabinet hoped that the official visit of the South Korean Premier Lee Hae-Chan to the Kingdom today will further enhance the existing cooperation between the two friendly countries, particularly in the fields of energy, technology, economic cooperation and trade exchange.
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed his appreciation of the national feelings embodied in the festival of Riyadh city, the capital that represents the entire homeland and its regions.
The Minister said the Cabinet then reviewed the local items on its agenda and issued the following decisions:
The Cabinet authorized the Chief Civil Aviation Authority to take the necessary measures to sign a memorandum of understanding between the member countries of telecommunications (NAVISAT) on the one hand and Air Traffic National Service (ATNS), Air Maritime Services, and International Air Transport Association (IATA), on the other.
The final accounts of the Tourism Higher Authority for the fiscal year 1424 - 1425 H was approved by the Cabinet.
The Cabinet also approved a bill on a comprehensive national system to implement the Chemical Weapons Convention on creating, producing, storing and using chemical weapons and on destroying them.
According to the regulation, nobody is allowed to create or produce, use, possess, store, keep, or transfer chemical weapons. Local inspection teams will have access any sites suspected of the above. Whoever is convicted of any of the above offences, will receive fines of between SR500,000 and SR one million or will be sentenced to between five and twenty years in prison or a combination of the two punishments, along with the confiscation of the chemical weapons in question.
The new system nullifies and replaces the previous measures of the implementation of the agreement on barring, creating, producing, storing, using and destroying chemical weapons.
The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance or his deputy to discuss with the Pakistani side drafting a memorandum of understanding between the Kingdom's Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance and Pakistan's Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments in the field of Islamic affairs and endowments, to sign it accordingly and forward the final version for further authentication.
The Cabinet passed the version submitted to it by the Shoura Council on the regulations on interior pilgrims.
Saudi companies licensed to serve domestic pilgrims are barred from providing services for pilgrims coming from abroad, according to the system.
They are also compelled to provide the financial and human resources even before embarking on the service, the system said, adding that Hajj fees and service prices should be reasonable. The local Hajj companies have to recruit Saudis for the administrative and contracting works.
According to the new regulations, internal pilgrims, including citizens and expatriates, are not allowed to perform Hajj individually but have to go through the licensed Hajj companies, the system explained.
The system will be published in the official gazette and will become valid after 90 days of appearing in the official newspaper.
The Cabinet ratified a request by the Minister of Water and Electricity to levy the costs of connecting private houses and facilities to the new expansion project of the sewage network as of the budget of the next fiscal year 1426-1427 H.
A new study reviewing the cost will be conducted by the Ministry of Water and Electricity after five years, the Cabinet said.
The Cabinet approved the appointment of Sultan bin Jamal bin Ismael Shawly as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources for Mineral Resources; Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Aqeel Alsulaiman as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for Industry Affairs; and Abdulaziz bin Saad bin Hajar Alghamdi as Director General of the State Properties Department of the Ministry of Finance.
