RIYADH — The Council of Ministers on Monday highlighted the significance of upgrading bilateral relations with China to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership. The weekly session of the Cabinet, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman here, also lauded the King's emphasis to make joint efforts to achieve stability and strengthen regional and global peace and security as well as to combat the potential challenges, especially the scourge of terrorism, facing the world. The King underscored this point during his recent meeting with Chinese Xi Jinping in Riyadh recently. Speaking to the Saudi Press Agency, Adel Al-Turaifi, minister of culture and information, said that the Cabinet considered the inauguration of the Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (YASREF) and the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) by the King recently as an extension of the support and attention being provided by the leadership in all matters concerning the prosperity of the Kingdom and the welfare of its people. The Council strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a university in northwest Pakistan and the center of Afghan capital, Kabul, which resulted in scores of deaths and injuries. It also asserted that these criminal acts are contrary to the principles of Islam and its teachings as well as the humanitarian values and principles. Al-Turaifi said the Cabinet approved the regulations for the retail allocation of agricultural land. These include land donated or sold to government organizations or companies that run as public firm, endowed land of charities, land whose ownership abandoned by the government, and land detached from the government irrigation canals in Al-Ahsa and Al-Jouf regions. The retail allotment will be made on the basis of a plan approved by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
