JEDDAH, 14 September 2005 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday received the chairman and members of the 150-strong Shoura Council at his palace and told them: “You represent the Saudi people and you have to do it well.”
King Abdullah, who was meeting the Shoura for the first time after accession to the throne on Aug. 1, said Saudi Arabia was going ahead in the right direction. “We’ll never deviate from the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah,” he said.
He commended Saudis for standing firm in the face of a strident smear campaign following the 9/11 attacks in the United States and emphasized that Saudi Arabia would not be shaken by such baseless campaigns in the West and East.
King Abdullah said Riyadh would continue its efforts in the service of Muslims and for the welfare of humanity at large.
“God willing, you will lead the Islamic world as well as the non-Islamic world through your ethics and behavior and you can achieve that goal through determination,” he said.
The king also told Saudis that they could live with honor, raise their heads and gain victories so long as they surrender to none but God.
Shoura Council Chairman Dr. Saleh Bin-Humaid congratulated King Abdullah on being appointed the Kingdom’s sovereign after the death of King Fahd and winning massive popular support through pledges of allegiance.
He also praised the king for his major decisions after taking over power, including 15 percent pay raise for public servants, SR78 billion allocation from 2005 budget surplus to welfare and service projects and allocation of a substantial amount of money to pay off public debts.
He praised King Abdullah for championing reforms and modernizing state-run institutions in accordance with the needs and development of society and adhering to the Islamic faith. He also noted King Fahd’s efforts in developing the Shoura Council and increasing its powers.
The Shoura chief denounced the terrorist attacks in the Kingdom over the past three years and lauded security forces for their successful campaigns to crush Al-Qaeda militants.
Also yesterday, King Abdullah set up an emergency committee for carrying out relief work in Niger. Chaired by the acting president of the Saudi Red Crescent Society, the committee will visit the West African country to review the condition of its people.
King Abdullah took the initiative after media reports that the Muslim state was facing acute food crisis as a result of a drought. He has instructed the committee to work out an emergency plan to help the famine victims in the country.
Meanwhile, Suleiman Al-Humaid, governor of the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) said yesterday that higher authorities had approved construction of six residential buildings on Mina mountains to accommodate pilgrims.
An agreement has already been signed with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs for the project, which will be financed by GOSI and the Pensions Fund. Humaid said the project was planned to meet the housing requirements of increasing numbers of pilgrims. He said GOSI had taken ownership of two plots on the north and east of the Prophet’s Mosque, of 2,889 and 1,703 square meters respectively, to carry out real estate projects.
GOSI has already invested in two other real estate projects in the central region of Madinah.
