RIYADH — The Council of Ministers on Monday backed the call made by the recently concluded Istanbul summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to convene an international peace conference on Palestine. The weekly session of the Cabinet, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, lauded the demand contained in the communiqué issued at the end of the summit in this regard, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The communiqué called for the early convening of an International Peace Conference to frame mechanisms to provide international protection for the Palestinian people and to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, occupied since 1967, and that is in implementation of the relevant UN resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative. The conference called for continued action to seek the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution aimed at ending the Israeli occupation within a timetable for its implementation. In a statement to SPA, Adel Al-Turaifi, minister of culture and information, said that the Cabinet also lauded the OIC summit's condemnation of the attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in the Iranian cities of Tehran and Mashhad as well as the Iranian provocative statements and its interference in the internal affairs of some OIC member states. At the outset of the session, the Cabinet congratulated King Salman on the success of his official visits to Egypt and Turkey. The Council highlighted the signing of a package of agreements and memoranda of understanding with Egypt as well as the announcement about building a causeway connecting the two countries. The King briefed the Cabinet on the outcome of his talks with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, resulting in further strengthening of the historical relations and cementing bonds of cooperation as well as serving the interests of the Islamic and Arab nations, besides strengthening regional and global security and peace. The Cabinet viewed that the King's visit to Turkey yielded fruitful results in consolidating the strategic relations between the two countries, and that during the visit a protocol for establishing the Saudi-Turkish Coordination Council was signed besides opening broad prospects to strengthen ties in the political, economic, trade, military, security, energy, media, journalism, education and cultural fields for the benefit of the two countries and their peoples. The King said that his talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphasized mutual interests in dealing with the causes of concern to the entire region, mainly finding a just solution to the Palestinian issue, ending the Syrian crisis and countering the interventions in the internal affairs of countries of the region by some vested interests. Al-Turaifi said the Cabinet approved amendments in some clauses in the bylaw of the Marine Scientific Research Consultation Committee. It also endorsed the regulations for the General Authority of Small and Medium Enterprises.
