King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, chaired the weekly Cabinet meeting on Monday during which ministers heard a briefing on discussions of the last week, looked at recent cultural, political and economic events in the Kingdom, and made additions to its ruling governing sewer network connection on unplanned urban property. Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, said that King Abdullah spoke of his talks with the leaders and delegations of GCC countries who were in Riyadh last Tuesday for the GCC consultative meeting, and briefed the Cabinet on his meeting with Luxembourg Crown Prince Guillaume, the Mideast Quartet representative Tony Blair, and a telephone conversation with Sudanese President Omar Al-Beshir. Khoja said the Cabinet then reviewed reports on regional and global developments and a number of cultural, political and economic events in the Kingdom, and expressed the Kingdom's gratitude to UNESCO for hosting the King Abdullah Translation Award ceremony. The Cabinet made an addition to its ruling obliging landowners who wish to build in unplanned areas to connect new property to the main sewage network, by issuing a fourth article excluding land located within the first stage of the urban band not neighboring main sewer networks. That land is not excluded, however, if works to connect it to the main network are part of a contract under execution or in the process of being awarded. Also excluded are the owners of “small property” – a term to be defined within three months by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Water and Electricity. The Cabinet also approved a memorandum of understanding on political consultation signed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with its Brazilian counterpart on 16/05/2009, and a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and the Tunisian Ministry of Religious Affairs signed in Tunis on 8/6/2009. The Cabinet further authorized the Minister of Finance to sign draft accords with Poland and the Philippine to avoid double taxation and prevent income tax evasion, and also approved the following appointments: Abdul Rahman Bin Muhammad Bin Ghunaim Al-Ghunaim as Social Consultant at the Ministry of Social Affairs; Muhammad Bin Sulaiman Bin Abdullah Al-Oraiyed as Consultant Civil Engineer at the Ministry of Education, and Abdullah Bin Ahmad Bin Muhammad Hasan Nahhas as Director General of Customs at Jeddah's King Abdul Aziz International Airport.
