The Cabinet has instructed the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) to continue monitoring the Marat cement factory to the north of Riyadh and ensure its compliance with environmental standards. Ministers asked the PME to measure emissions from the plant every six months and analyze samples at PME-approved laboratories to ensure they do not exceed permitted levels. The Cabinet also ordered that the regional municipality be provided with the emission measurements. Gathering in Jeddah for its weekly meeting on Monday and chaired by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Cabinet was briefed on the King's recent contacts with foreign leaders including the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and his reception of the President of the United Nations General Assembly Ali Abdulsalam Al-Turaiki. Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, said the Cabinet heard reports on the emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers, the second meeting of GCC ministers of foreign affairs, the meeting of ASEAN countries, and the emergency meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The Cabinet noted the various meetings' condemnations of the Israeli military assault against the Freedom Flotilla and the use of violence against innocent people, and further reviewed a Ministry of Finance report on the outcome of the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Busan, South Korea. The Cabinet gave its approval for the Kingdom to join the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property, and authorized the Minister of Islamic Affairs or a deputy to hold talks with Bangladesh on a draft memorandum of understanding with the Bangladesh Ministry of Religious Affairs on Islamic affairs and endowments prior to submitting the finalized copy for the completion of regulatory procedures. The Cabinet also approved a memorandum of scientific and educational cooperation between the Ministry of Higher Education and Holland's Ministry of Education, Culture and Science that was signed in Riyadh on May 12, 2009, and authorized the Minister of Agriculture to take the necessary procedures for the Kingdom to join the 1995 Grains Trade Convention. The president of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology was authorized to hold talks on a draft memorandum of scientific and technological cooperation with Turkey, and approval was granted for the Saudi-South African scientific and technological cooperation memorandum that was signed in Cape Town on Feb. 25, 2009. The Cabinet also approved three appointments: Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Bin Zaid Al-Shagroud to the rank of ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Abdul Qader Bin Abdullah Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Fantoukh as Undersecretary for Planning and Information at the Ministry of Higher Education, rank 15, and Saleh Bin Muhammad Bin Abdullah Al-Shuraiyan as Director General of Establishments and Companies Control at the General Auditing Bureau, rank 14.
