The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet's session held on Tuesday afternoon at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. At the outset of the session, the Cabinet thanked Allah Almighty for enabling the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to work with the highest levels of responsibility in confronting the Coronavirus pandemic and mitigating its effects, which yielded positive results in all aspects of life, including lifting the precautionary and preventive measures related to the pandemic based on the progress in the national vaccination program and the high rates of immunization and immunity against the virus in the community. The Cabinet then reviewed the content of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's meetings with a number of countries, with the aim of strengthening the bonds of friendship and cooperation in a manner that contributes to advancing relations and supporting all that establish security, stability and prosperity in the region and the world. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Minister of State, Cabinet's Member for the affairs of Shura Council and Acting Minister of Media Dr. Essam bin Saad bin Saeed said that the Cabinet considered Saudi Arabia's grant of USD 30 million to support the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund (AHTF) a continuation of the recent Saudi relief efforts provided to the Afghan people and its support over the past decades to several development projects in Afghanistan with a cost exceeding SAR 1 billion. The Cabinet was briefed on a number of issues on its agenda and issued the following decisions: First: Authorizing the Minister of Energy – or a deputy – to hold talks with the Jordanian side regarding a draft cooperation agreement between the governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the energy field, sign it and refer the final signed copy to proceed with formal procedures. Second: Approving a memorandum of understanding between the governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Iraq on the electric connection. Third: Authorizing the Minister of Foreign Affairs – or a deputy – to hold talks with the Senegalese side regarding a draft memorandum of understanding on political consultations between the foreign ministries of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Senegal, sign it and refer the final signed copy to proceed with formal procedures. Fourth: Approving a memorandum of understanding between the Saudi Post of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt Post of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Fifth: Authorizing the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, Chairman of the Institute of Public Administration – or a deputy – to hold talks with the Egyptian side regarding a draft memorandum of understanding between the Institute of Public Administration in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Council State in the Arab Republic of Egypt in the legal field, sign it and refer the final signed copy to proceed with formal procedures. Sixth: Approving a cooperation agreement between the governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Greece in the marine transport field. Seventh: Authorizing Chairman of the Saudi Space Commission – or a deputy – to hold talks with the Egyptian side regarding a draft memorandum of understanding between the Saudi Space Commission and the Egyptian Space Agency in the field of space activities for peaceful purposes, sign it and refer the final signed copy to proceed with formal procedures. Eighth: Approving organizational arrangements for the Strategic Bureau to Develop Jazan Region and organizational arrangements for the Strategic Bureau to Develop Al-Jouf Region. Ninth: Approving the regulation of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy. Tenth: Approving organizational arrangements for the national committee of incentives concerned with organizing incentives that are offered to investment projects. Eleventh: Amending the civil pension bylaw issued under Royal Decree No. (M/41) on 29/7/1393 Hijri and the social security bylaw issued under Royal Decree No. (M/33) on 3/9/1421 Hijri and a bylaw on the exchange of benefits between the bylaws of civil and military pensions and the social security bylaw issued under the Royal Decree No. (M/53) on 23/7/1424 Hijri (related to the entitlement of employees to allowance or a pension) as per the decision. Twelfth: Approving financial equivalent regulation for licensing to use frequencies. Thirteenth: Renewing the membership of Dr. Abdulaziz bin Obeid Al-Kaabi and appointing Dr. Saleh bin Islamil Al-Qaissi, and Eng. Mazen bin Ahmad Al-Khayyat at the board of directors of the Saudi Geological Survey. Fourteenth: Approving two appointments and promotions to the (fourteenth and fifteenth) ranks. The Cabinet also reviewed a number of general topics on its agenda and took the necessary measures regarding these topics.
