Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet's session at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Monday. At the outset of the Cabinet session, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques praised Allah Almighty for the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, and for bestowing the blessings, status and glory upon the Kingdom, renewing his congratulations to Kingdom's citizens, residents and Arab and Islamic nations on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed his thanks and appreciation for the leaders and heads of delegations of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Arab States for their efforts during their 16th consultative meeting, pointing out that the decisions that have been taken during that meeting will have a positive impact on the GCC countries and overcome various obstacles in the march of the GCC integration, and praising what the GCC member states have witnessed of development, prosperity and cooperation that made it a source of stability and security in the region. Afterwards, the King briefed the Cabinet on the results of his meetings with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bangladesh and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Italy Paolo Gentiloni. In a statement to Saudi Press Agency following the session, Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Adel bin Zaid Al-Toraifi explained that the Cabinet expressed its congratulations to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Crown Prince and the Deputy Crown Prince on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, stressing the contents of the speech of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addressed on the occasion of the holy month, his emphasis on the need of the Islamic nation to translate the objectives of this great month into sincere worship to Allah Almighty, and the keenness of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since its foundation by King Abdulaziz on making the unity of the Islamic nation and seeking always for unifying Arab and Muslim ranks as its objective, and it will remain keen to achieve this noble goal, noting that the Islam is a religion of mercy, compassion, love and moderation and calls for peace, justice and the renunciation of violence and extremism. The Cabinet confirmed that the King's directives to take advantage of the completed sites of the expansion building, northern, western and southern open yards and parts of eastern yards of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques project for the expansion of the Grand Holy Mosque and elements associated with them, in addition to his directives to take advantage of all floors with their five levels to raise Mataf's (circumambulation) capacity come as an extension to his keenness and blessed efforts in serving Islam and Muslims, facilitating the performance of Umrah and prayers by the visitors of the House of Allah in the holy month of Ramadan and creating the appropriate atmosphere for them. The Cabinet hailed the great care being given to Umrah performers and visitors during the Umrah season in Makkah and Madinah by all employees in serving visitors of the Grand Holy Mosque and the Prophet's Holy Mosque, stressing that when various relevant authorities responsible for serving pilgrims, Umrah performers and visitors are doing their tasks to the fullest, this embodies their feeling of the importance of their roles to serve the guests of Allah in this holy month based on the kingdom's keenness since its foundation on fully taking care of serving pilgrims. The minister said that the Cabinet commended the wise decisions taken by the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Arab States in their 16th consultative meeting to implement the vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques on the strengthening of the GCC joint action according to its scheduled timetable, stressing in this context that the approval by the GCC leaders of the Economic and Development Affairs Commission, the basic law of the Economic Judicial Commission stated in the Economic Agreement among the GCC countries and the holding of a joint periodic meeting of defense, interior and foreign ministers to coordinate policies among the GCC countries will have great impact on the march of the GCC countries, boosting the joint GCC work and development of cooperation, coordination and integration in the economic and development fields. The Council of Ministers strongly condemned the terrorist attack on the Jordanian intelligence headquarters in Albaqa'a camp west of the Jordan, which killed a number of people, stressing the solidarity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its full standing by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the face of terrorism in all its forms and whatever its source, and those who stand behind it, and expressing condolences to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's King, government and people and to the families of the victims. The Cabinet praised the marine mediums project started by the Ministry of Interior, represented by the Border Guard's sector as well as the project of the design and production of an unmanned aircraft to be implemented by Prince Sultan Advanced Technology Research Institute, stressing that these projects come in the context of strengthening the security capabilities of the homeland. The Cabinet appreciated the approval of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs of Governance Model for Achieving Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 which included the roles and responsibilities of relevant authorities in achieving the vision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2030 and the mechanism to remove obstacles hindering the executive programs' achievement of their goals. Dr. Adel bin Zaid Al-Toraifi said that the Cabinet was briefed on the topics on its agenda and took the following decisions: First: After reviewing the report submitted by Deputy Crown Prince, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and the Chairman of the Council of Economic Affairs and Development, and considering the Council of Economic Affairs and Development Resolution (1-38 / 37 / s) dated on 29/08/1437 AH, the Cabinet decided to approve the Transformation Program, which is one of the programs of "Saudi Arabia's vision 2030". Second: After reviewing the report submitted by the Minister of Justice, and after considering of the Shura Council resolution No. (54/28) dated on 19/06/1437 H., the Cabinet decided to approve the statute of the Arab Court of Human Rights. Third: After reviewing the report submitted by the Ministry of Economy and Planning: The Cabinet approved on the organization of the National Center for Strategic Development Studies. The center aims to contribute to the promotion of the development process of the national economy by being an intellectual advisory body entrusted with the responsibility to identify the objectives, policies and applicable programs to ensure the achievement of the economic growth within the local and global variables, and to carry out effective implementation of the plans for economic and development policies, and provide the necessary studies and consultations for public and private sectors to address the development issues. Fourthly: The Council of Ministers decided to approve the minutes of the establishment of the Saudi-Jordanian Council of Coordination and the Saudi-UAE Council of Coordination. Fifth: The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Education - or his deputy - to discuss with the Mauritanian side a draft memorandum of scientific and educational cooperation between the Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, sign it, and then submit the final version to complete the legal procedures. Sixth: The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Housing - or his deputy - to discuss with the Indian side a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of housing between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Republic of India, sign it and then submit the final version to complete the legal procedures. Seventh: The Cabinet approved a number of appointments as follows: 1 - Mansour bin Ibrahim bin Abdulrahman Almazrooa' as Undersecretary of Ministry for Judicial Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, rank 15. 2 - Naif Bin Bandar Bin Ahmed Al-Sudairy as ambassador at the Foreign Ministry. 3 - Ahmed bin Salim bin Odeh Al-Balawi as legal counsel at the Ministry of Justice, rank 14. 4 - Asim bin Shafik bin Abdul Rauf Saban as Minister Plenipotentiary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 5 - Ahmed bin Ali bin Ahmed Ktuah as Minister Plenipotentiary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 6 - Faisal bin Muslit bin Ghassab Almandeel as Minister Plenipotentiary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 7 - Ibrahim bin Mohammed bin Abdullah Alqanas as management consultant at the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution, rank 14. The Cabinet was briefed on the number of general topics on its agenda, including the annual report of the Ministry of Labour and Social Development for the fiscal year (1435/1436 H.), and made relevant instructions.
