Assistant Chairman of the Shoura (consultative) Council Dr Saleh Al-Ali met here today with Speaker of the Ethiopian Council of Deputies Taysoum Toga on the fringes of the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), currently in progress here. They reviewed issues of mutual interest. Meanwhile, Dr Al-Ali addressing the parliamentary meeting reiterated the great attention given by Saudi Arabia to Africa, and highlighted the Kingdom's role in supporting development efforts in the developing countries. He noted that the Kingdom extended in the last three decades four percent of its Goss National Product (GNP) to the developing countries. The Kingdom comes next to the US in terms of remittances by its foreign workforce, he said, noting that the remittances do contribute to the development process in Africa On his part, Dr Talal Bakri, the member of the Shoura Council, said the Islamic Shariah, from which the Kingdom's legislations are stemmed, respects women and recognizes their rights. He pointed out that the Saudi government is keen on enabling women to practice their rights and duties.
