RIYADH: The Cabinet approved Monday the conversion of the National Program for the Administration and Rationalization of Power Consumption at King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) into an independent center for power consumption rationalization tasked with improving energy production efficiency. The move, which followed a proposal from Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minster and Minister of Defense and Aviation in his capacity as chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Administrative Organization, will see the center named the “Saudi Center for Energy Efficiency”, and run directly by the president of KACST. The Cabinet also approved the formation of an administrative committee chaired by the KACST president and two other members. Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency after the meeting that the ministers were briefed by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, on his contacts during the last week, including telephone calls from US President Barack Obama and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and talks held with Amr Moussa, the Secretary General of the Arab League. Ministers lauded the invitation announced Sunday by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to President Jalal Talabani of Iraq and his country's political parties to meet in Riyadh after the Haj to resolve differences and find agreement on forming a government. Khoja said the Cabinet also reviewed reports on regional and international political developments and condemned the Israeli draft law to include Occupied Jerusalem on the list of the Israeli cities of special priority. The Cabinet appealed to the international community to put pressure on Israel to halt all violations and encroachments designed to Judaize Jerusalem and change its Arab-Islamic entity. Ministers also approved a memorandum of understanding between the Saudi Ministry of Health and the US Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services on public health and medical science cooperation that was signed in Geneva on May 18, 2010.
