RIYADH, 18 April 2007 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday launched a number of educational, health, economic, water, electricity, housing and communication projects worth SR120 billion in Riyadh, including the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), the Women’s University and an information technology city.
In his welcome speech, Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman commended King Abdullah’s efforts to develop all regions of the Kingdom, particularly the Riyadh region. “Riyadh has a special place in the hearts of Saudis, not only because it is the capital, but because the unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia started from the city,” the governor said.
King Abdullah was later briefed on various projects in different sectors before he pressed a button on the panel in front of him to launch each one of them in the name of Allah. Crown Prince Sultan, a large number of princes, senior Cabinet members and other top officials attended the ceremony.
The KAFD will be the headquarters of the Capital Market Authority (CMA), the Stock Exchange (Tadawul) and the Commodity Market, and for financial institutions and other service providers such as accountants, auditors, lawyers, analysts, rating agencies, consultants, and IT providers.
Other major projects launched by King Abdullah were: The 50-story Al-Rajhi Towers, located north of Riyadh, Binaa project with a capital investment of SR2 billion, Ras Al-Zour desal plant (which has a capacity to supply one million cubic meters of water and 1,000 megawatt daily), water distribution network in Houtat Bani Tameem, 10 electricity power generation plants, 1,095 educational projects, college projects in Al-Kharj, Shaqra, Majmaa and Zulfi, expansion of King Abdul Aziz University Hospital and King Khaled University Hospital.
Meanwhile in an interview with Russian Television’s Channel Two, King Abdullah called for a dialogue between civilizations in order to strengthen world unity and promote global peace. He also disclosed plans to make the annual Janadriya Heritage and Culture Festival near Riyadh a forum for exchange of world cultures.
Abdullah reiterated the Kingdom’s total rejection of terrorism. “We are sorry to say that some people bearing Muslim names practice it, but Islam has nothing to do with them as it prohibits the killing of innocent people,” he added.
He highlighted the role of the Janadriya festival in reviving Kingdom’s culture and heritage and strengthening the unity of Saudi people. “It has lately become a forum for enhancing Arab unity. It is now open to the whole world and we say ‘welcome’ to everybody,’” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the king as telling the Russian channel. “Saudi Arabia works against division and discrimination,” he added.
Abdullah called on the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and the European Union to play a major role in finding a lasting solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
