RIYADH: The Shoura Council is holding Monday its first meeting with representatives of regional councils to find ways to increase coordination and achieve balanced social and economic development across the Kingdom's regions. Abdullah Aal Al-Sheikh, President of the Shoura Council, said that the meeting will be the first following with orders from King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to improve cooperation and coordination between the Shoura and regional councils and hold periodic meetings to introduce procedures to that end as well as create “productive communication to meet the needs of the population in all regions through coordination with the Ministry of Interior”. “The meetings will seek to involve all government bodies and organizations in the process of development work,” Aal Al-Sheikh said. “The Shoura Council has always addressed and still addresses the needs of the people and their most pressing issues, according to its jurisdiction. It has set up to that end a specialized department, the department of Regional Council Affairs, tasked with communicating and coordinating with mayoralties and regional councils.” He said that he hoped the new procedures would give the opportunity for cooperation between the Shoura Council and regional councils in the near future and strengthen the Shoura's organizational and monitoring functions.
