RIYADH: King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, briefed the Cabinet, during its regular session in Riyadh Monday, on talks he had with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The discussion with Al-Assad focused on the “overall situation and developments in the Islamic, Arab and international scene”, according to a Saudi Press Agency (SPA) report. The two leaders also had talks on boosting bilateral cooperation between the two nations. Chairing the weekly cabinet session, King Abdullah stressed the “depth of the relations between the two countries”, according to the SPA. Dr. Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, said in a statement released Monday on SPA, that the Monarch also briefed the Cabinet on contact he had with Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian President, and a telephone call he received from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Apart from this, the Cabinet listened to reports on developments in occupied Palestine, Iraq and Sudan. The Cabinet also reviewed a number of international conferences and events in which the Kingdom took part, including the Friends of Pakistan conference and the 8th joint ministerial meeting for strategic dialogue between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and the Republic of Turkey, in addition to the OPEC Ministerial Conference. The Kingdom once again urged the international community to “join hands” with Pakistan to enable it to deal with the consequences of the flood disaster. The Cabinet also approved a number of recommendations made by ministries.
