Saudi: King Salman chairs cabinet session

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet session held on Tuesday at Irqah Palace in Riyadh. At the outset of the meeting, the Cabinet was briefed on the content of the letter received by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques from the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria and the phone call received by HRH the Crown Prince from the President of the Russian Federation. The Cabinet then followed up the preparation works ongoing for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's participation in the G20 meetings for 2023, in light of its keenness to provide solutions and initiatives to address the challenges facing the global economy, including the Framework for the Common Action to Tackle Debts initiative, and its role in launching the Financial Intermediary Fund for Health Security and its support for it with an amount of $50 million, in addition to Saudi Arabia’s cooperation with the Indonesian presidency of the G20 in 2022 to address global food security crisis, where the Kingdom also continues work to complete the implementation of these initiatives under the Indian presidency. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the meeting, acting Minister of Media Dr. Majed Al-Qasabi said that the Cabinet followed up the developments in the region and around the world, especially in Palestine, stressing the need to revive the peace process and calling on the international community to assume its responsibilities to end the occupation, stop Israeli attacks, and provide the necessary protection for civilians. The Cabinet reiterated the Kingdom's rejection and condemnation of the repeated burning of copies of the Holy Quran in several European capitals recently, stressing the importance of addressing these practices by the governments of those countries so as not to provoke the feelings of Muslims around the world. Locally, the Cabinet commended the outcomes of Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit 2023 for signing agreements and memoranda of understanding, as well as discussions that focused on the latest developments in the sector and ways to utilize its opportunities and enhance its trends in a way that maintains the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's leading status in the sector in accordance with the Saudi Vision 2030 that aims at diversifying the national economy based on research and scientific knowledge. The Cabinet also commended the outcomes of the Municipal Investment Forum (Furas) that was held in Riyadh, including inaugurating the investment portal in Saudi cities, signing 125 contracts and agreements with a value exceeding SAR12 billion, providing more than 5,000 investment opportunities to the private sector, reviewing 200 projects for entrepreneurs, and announcing the biggest investment opportunity of its kind in the external advertisements sector. The Cabinet was briefed on several topics on its agenda, some co-studied by the Shura Council, as well as on the conclusions reached by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, the Council for Political and Security Affairs, the Cabinet's General Committee and the Cabinet's Bureau of Experts. The Cabinet issued the following: First: Approving a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Energy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Energy Ministry of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the field of energy. Second: Authorizing the Minister of Culture, or his deputy, to hold talks with the Malian side regarding a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of culture between the Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Crafts, Culture, Hotel Industry and Tourism of the Republic of Mali. Third: Approving a memorandum of understanding between the Saline Water Conversion Corporation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research of the State of Kuwait in the field of water desalination. Fourth: Approving a memorandum of understanding between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Government and the Republic of Senegal's Government on cooperation in the field of encouraging the direct investment. Fifth: Authorizing the minister of health, or his deputy, to discuss with the Tunisian side a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Tunisia. Sixth: Approving a memorandum of cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher and Secondary-Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Seventh: Authorizing the Minister of Media, who is also Chairman of Board of Directors of the General Commission for Audiovisual Media (GCAM), or his deputy, to discuss with the Indian side a memorandum of understanding between GCAM and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Republic of India. Eighth: Authorizing President of the Islamic University of Madinah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or his deputy, to discuss a draft memorandum of understanding with the Islamic Development Bank Group. Ninth: Approving a recommendation to name the year 2023 as “the Arabic Poetry Year.” Tenth: Amending Paragraph 12 of Article 11 in the Chemical Substances Management Bylaw, issued under a Royal decree, No. M/38, on 16/6/1427H, to read as follows: “The disposal of chemical waste is to be carried out by a specialized facility, licensed by the National Center for Waste Management, with a notification to be sent to the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture before any waste disposal process is carried out according to relevant regulations. Eleventh: Amending the Voluntary Work Bylaw, issued under the Royal decree No. 70 on 27/5/1441H, as indicated in the resolution. Twelfth: The State will continue covering visa issuance fees for seasonal laborers to be recruited by the Project for Utilization of Hady & Adahi (Adahi) (Sacrifice Meat) for Hajj Season 1444H. Thirteenth: Approving the amendment to Article 2 of the Health Institutions Bylaw, issued under the Royal decree No. M/40 on 3/11/1423H, to match with the same version included in the resolution. Fourteenth: Approving the closing account of the Saudi Accreditation Center for a previous fiscal year. Fifteenth: Approving the promotion of Nasser bin Abdullah bin Salem Al-Baqami to the position of (first financial advisor) in the 15th rank at the Ministry of Commerce. The Cabinet was also briefed on a number of topics on its agenda, including the annual reports of Ministry of Transport and Logistics Services; Development of Makkah Region Authority; Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (monsha'at); General Authority of Foreign Trade; Saudi Accreditation Center; Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property; National Center for Environmental Compliance; Education and Training Evaluation Commission, and Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority. The Cabinet took necessary actions and procedures in this regard.

Saudi: King Salman chairs cabinet session

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