Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet session which was held at Al-Yamamah palace in Riyadh today. At the outset of the session, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on discussions and consultations that took place last week with a number of State leaders or their envoys on the latest regional and international developments, including the telephone call he received from President Barack Obama of the United States of America. The Cabinet condemned the acts of aggression carried out by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people, including the recent series of raids carried out by Israeli aircrafts on different areas of the Gaza Strip which led to the death and injury of dozens of Palestinian civilians, including children, women and elders, as well as continuation of Israel racial policy in the Arab land territories in Palestine, the Syrian Golan and southern Lebanon, particularly in violating the legitimate rights to the use of natural resources including water. Israel continues to drain water resources of Palestine, making the water situation in Palestine tragic, leading to a lack of resources, and the groundwater being seriously polluted. The Cabinet welcomed the outcomes of the Afghanistan International conference held in Bonn, stressing the Kingdom's keenness on the unity and stability of Afghanistan, and expressing appreciation of President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan for his noble feelings towards the Kingdom which he expressed in his speech during the conference. In a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the session, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohieddin Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, said the Cabinet reviewed the latest developments at the Arab arena, congratulating the brothers in the Republic of Yemen on forming the national reconciliation government in accordance with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative which was signed in Riyadh and its executive mechanisms, asking Allah Almighty to restore the stability and security of Yemen so that it continues its progress and development. The Cabinet expressed wishes that the meetings of Arab Foreign Ministers and the Ministerial Committee on the Syrian crisis to be held in Cairo next week will reach the results of stemming bloodshed and restoring security and stability in Syria. Dr. Khoja said that the Cabinet discussed a number of events and activities that took place within the programs of the GCC Member States, including a meeting of the GCC interior ministers and the GCC ministers of municipalities held in Abu Dhabi, and the meeting of speakers of GCC Shura, Representatives, National and Ummah (nation) Councils held in Jeddah. The cabinet welcomed the approval by the GCC countries of the establishment of a GCC police force and a permanent security committee of the Ministries of Interior of the Member States to be concerned with industrial security and protection of vital installations, stressing in this regard that the GCC countries are a single entity and that any threat to the security of any state is a threat to the security of the GCC countries as a whole. The Minister of Culture and Information said the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi briefed the cabinet on the results of the Seventeenth Meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Durban, South Africa, where the Kingdom (represented by the National Committee of the Clean Development Mechanism) won the Award of the best authority that presented a program for promoting the culture of the clean development mechanism. The cabinet stressed the Kingdom's firm position that calls for preserving the interests of the States Parties to the Convention in the framework of justice and balance and in a way that contributes to a global sustainable economic growth. The Cabinet further reminded all of the Kingdom efforts in encouraging cooperation with the international community to face climate change and adapt to it in accordance with its stated objectives for the protection of environment. Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohieddin Khoja said the Cabinet then continued discussion of its agenda and issued the following decisions: The cabinet approved the amendment to paragraph (IV) of the Council of Ministers Resolution No. (1200) dated 9/9/1397 AH relating to the revision of the amount of compensation awarded to officers, non-commissioned officers, and the military students in case of death or disability preventing them from work indefinitely if the death or disability is caused by work. The Cabinet approved the Regulation on Maritime Areas of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The most prominent features include: 1-The rules and regulations of the Kingdom determine controls ships entry to and leave of its territorial waters. 2- Ships of all countries have the right of innocent passage through the territorial waters of the Kingdom. The passage shall be innocent if it does not harm the Kingdom's peace, system or security. 3- All countries should acknowledge the rights of the Kingdom to its exclusive economic zone and comply with the laws of the Kingdom, the provisions of the convention and any other rules of the international law. 4- Application of the regulation does not prejudice any agreements signed previously between the Kingdom and its neighboring countries as well as those opposite to it regarding maritime borders or exploitation of natural resources in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Arabian Gulf. The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Justice - or his deputy - to discuss with the GCC Ministers of Justice the addition of the text of the proposed amendments attached to the decision to the unified draft law for the family courts of the GCC Member States. The Cabinet approved the implementation of the decision of the GCC financial and economic committee which was held in Abu Dhabi 21-22/10/2011 regarding the extension of the amended regulations to exempt national industry inputs from customs taxes (duties) of the GCC Member States currently in force for a period of three years beginning 1/1/2011, and will be evaluated during the coming period whenever the need arises. The cabinet approved amendments of a number of provisions relevant to the rules of supplies policy according to cabinet decision No. (855) dated 26/5/1396 AH. The cabinet approved the organization of the Saudi Center for the Efficiency of Energy according to the text attached to the decision. The Cabinet approved the unified system to extend insurance protection to the military men of the GCC citizens working outside their countries in any GCC Member States which is adopted by the decision of the GCC Supreme Council in its 31st session held in the United Arab Emirates during the period from 30/12/1431 to 01/01/1432 AH. The Cabinet approved that, for Saudi pensioners covered by the military retirement system, the implementation of the provisions (of the unified system to extend insurance protection to the military men of the GCC citizens working outside their countries in any GCC Member States) be optional. The Cabinet approved that, within the Kingdom, the implementation of the provisions of the unified system to extend insurance protection to the military men of the GCC citizens working outside their countries in any GCC Member take effect as of 7/6/2011. The Cabinet approved a number of appointments as follows: 1- Abdulqadir bin Abdullah bin Salem Basfar appointed to the post of branch Director General of the General Auditing Bureau in Makkah region (rank 15) at the General Auditing Bureau. 2- Ahmed bin Saleh bin Abdulrahman Al-Saadi appointed to the post of branch Director General of the General Auditing Bureau in the Eastern region (rank 15) at the General Auditing Bureau. 3- Mohammed bin Saud bin Ali Al-Ghaithi appointed to the post of branch Director General of the Civil Status (rank 14) at the Ministry of Interior. 4- Eng. Ibrahim bin Sulaiman bin Ibrahim Al-Najashi appointed to the post of Consulting Civil Engineer (rank 14) at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
