RIYADH, 4 January 2005 — Saudi Arabia said its stand on the free trade agreements Bahrain concluded with the United States did not amount to a dispute with the Gulf neighbor but rather reflects the Kingdom’s keenness to see the Gulf Cooperation Council resolutions being honored.
The Cabinet, meeting last night in its weekly session under the chairmanship of Crown Prince Abdullah, said the Kingdom’s position toward the Bahrain-US agreement “is not considered by Saudi Arabia as amounting to a bilateral or even collective dispute, but rather reflects the Kingdom’s keenness on (maintaining) the credibility and seriousness of the Gulf Cooperation Council resolutions, especially in regard to the GCC economic unity.”
Minister of Culture and Information, Dr. Fouad Al-Farsi, said the Crown Prince briefed the Cabinet on his recent visit to the Eastern Province where he opened a number of mega industrial, health and education projects and his meetings with citizens of the region.
The Cabinet condemned the terrorist acts committed by the deviant groups saying such crimes exposed the true intentions of those criminals who seek to destabilize the country’s security and stability and terrorize its people.
The Cabinet praised the valor shown by the security forces in confronting the terrorists and, who were able within a short period of time to eliminate those who carried out the recent attacks in Riyadh.
The information minister said Crown Prince Abdullah briefed members of the Cabinet on the outcome of the discussions he had with world leaders on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, Iraq and the effects of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Southern Asian countries of Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand and Bangladesh.
The Kingdom offered its condolences and sympathies to the families of the dead and appealed to the international community to rush relief and assistance to the affected areas.
Saudi Arabia donated $10 million to the victims of the tidal waves that devastated large parts of the region.
