Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Prime Minister, chaired the Cabinet's virtual session on Tuesday.
At the outset of the session, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on the message he sent to Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah as well as the phone conversation with Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in which the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques affirmed the Kingdom's support for Algeria's efforts to combat fires that swept through a number of Algerian regions, issuing directives to provide urgent humanitarian aid for the affected people in Algeria.
The Cabinet reviewed a number of reports on the developments in the region and the world, reiterating the Kingdom's firm position in supporting the Yemeni people and its legitimate government as well as the regional and international efforts that aim at reaching a comprehensive political solution to the crisis in Yemen, in accordance with the three references in order to enable the Yemeni people to live in a country that enjoys security, stability and development, and to stop violations committed by the terrorist Houthi militia against the Yemeni people, as these violations obstruct all political solutions aiming to end the crisis.
The Cabinet pointed out that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is following-up with great interest the current situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, expressing hope that the situation in Afghanistan will stabilize as soon as possible, reiterating its support for the Afghan people.
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Acting Minister of Media Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi said that the Cabinet was briefed on the preparations and arrangements undertaken by authorities concerned with serving the visitors of the Two Holy Mosques, as Umrah requests from various countries of the world started to be received and the overall capacity was increased to 2,000,000 Umrah performers per month. These preparations and arrangements aim at providing the highest level of care for the visitors of the Two Holy Mosques while performing the rituals in safe healthy environment in light of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the spread of new variants of the virus.
The Cabinet reviewed the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic locally and globally, as well as the latest statistics and indexes of the health situation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in light of the decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases and critical cases as well as the increase in the number of citizens and residents receiving vaccine, where the total number of administered vaccine doses exceeded 32,000,000, in addition to the continuation of taking necessary measures that preserve the public health.
The Cabinet was briefed on a number of issues on its agenda, and issued the following decisions:
First: The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Foreign Affairs – or his deputy – to discuss and sign with the Russian side a draft memorandum of understanding on political consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
Second: The Cabinet approved the Saudi Accreditation Center to discuss and sign with United Kingdom Accreditation Service a draft memorandum of understanding.
Third: The Cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of fisheries between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Republic of Mauritius.
Fourth: The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Export-Import Bank, – or his deputy – to discuss and sign with the UK side a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the Field of export credit between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Fifth: The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Economy and Planning, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Statistics – or his deputy – to discuss and sign with the UK side a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of statistics between the General Authority for Statistics of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the British Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Sixth: The Cabinet stressed that the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing, and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture – each within their own jurisdiction – shall take necessary measures to protect the streams of valleys and reefs, prevent issuing permits for owning a land or building on these streams, demolish buildings on these streams, and implement all regulations, decisions and instructions issued in this regard.
Seventh: The Cabinet appointed Dr. Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeh, Dr. Johan Carlson and Dr. John Norman Newton as members of the Board of Directors of the Public Health Authority.
Eighth: The Cabinet approved the formation of Central Committee for Civil Service Employees Training and Scholarship in the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.
Ninth: The Cabinet approved a number of promotions at the 14th and 15th ranks. The Cabinet was briefed on a number of issues on its agenda and took relevant recommendations.
