Saudi Arabia on Monday decided to extend the term of the current Municipal Council members to two years, reported the Saudi Press Agency Monday. “The membership of members in current local councils will continue for another two years, starting from Nov. 2 this year,” SPA said after the Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet approved listing the Municipal Council rules to meet the objective of the State to expand the citizens' participation in the administration of the local affairs while benefiting from the results of the studies carried out by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in this regard. The ministry has been asked to submit the draft regulations of Municipal Councils. The Kingdom held municipal elections in 2005. King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, briefed the Cabinet on his talks with world leaders and their envoys during the week. The Monarch said his talks with the visiting Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva focused on ways and means to boost mutual cooperation between the two countries. In his speech, the King also dwelt on his talks during the week with Maxime Verhagen, Dutch Foreign Minister; Richard Holbrooke, special US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan; and participants in the 17th session of the Council for International Understanding (CIU). The CIU, concluded in Rabegh at the weekend, said religious tolerance was among the top issues facing the world today. Speaking after the Cabinet meeting, Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, said the Cabinet stressed the importance of convening regional and international conferences in the Kingdom in the areas of security, economics, health, culture and intellectual security. He said these conferences and meetings reflect the Kingdom's stature in the international arena. Al-Khoja said the Cabinet referred to the convening of the first conference on intellectual security which opened Sunday aiming at highlighting and benefiting from the Kingdom's successful experience in the field. Apart from this, Al-Khoja said, the Council was briefed by Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, on the 10th consultative meeting of the GCC interior ministers held recently in Riyadh. Additionally, the Council highlighted the Kingdom's re-election to the UN's Human Rights Council for Asian countries for a period of three years. He said the Council approved the renewal of the chairman and members of the Settlement of Disputes' Board besides the reappointment of Prince Turki Bin Saud Bin Muhammad Al-Saud as Deputy President of King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology for Research Institutes at Grade 15.
