RIYADH, 25 March 2008 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah said that the priority of every governmental body in the Kingdom is the welfare of citizens and providing them opportunities for work and participation in commercial, industrial, cultural and developmental activities.
This objective and priority “emanate from the state’s adherence to Islam, which calls for justice, fairness, equality, perseverance and pursuit of knowledge,” King Abdullah said while addressing the weekly Council of Ministers, which he chaired at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh yesterday.
Minister of Culture and Information Iyad Madani said that King Abdullah stressed in his address the role of the Kingdom in supporting the unity of the Arab world and in defending the issues of the Islamic Ummah.
“The best way to deal with the Arab and Muslim issues is approach them with sincerity and clarity, adhering to charters and covenants giving priority to the national interest rather than external alliances, and utilizing international relations in a way that serves the country and the Ummah. These principles are the basis of the Kingdom’s stand toward developments in Palestine, events in Iraq, where the foreign presence entered the fifth year, and the state of polarization in Lebanon that forestalls its political stability and national independence,” the king said.
The king briefed the Council of Ministers on the discussions he had over the previous days with a number of foreign leaders and their envoys on bilateral relations, regional issues and international affairs, Iyad Madani said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency following the session.
The council approved the setting up of a new organization called the General Authority for Tourism and Antiquities, Iyad Madani said. The council also reviewed a number of reports on economic and financial matters in the Kingdom.
Meanwhile, King Abdullah received at his palace in Riyadh the participants of the sixth forum for cultural dialogue between Japan and the Islamic world.
Addressing the reception, the king called for a meeting of all major monotheistic religions in order to solve the pressing problems facing the humanity, including moral degradation and family disintegration.
King Abdullah emphasized the need for people of all faiths to return to God to save the world from catastrophe.
“I wish every success for this forum that highlights the faith of Islam, its moral values, its purity and its love for other divine religions,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the king as telling the delegates.
King Abdullah said he had presented the idea of holding a meeting of different divine religions to Islamic scholars in the Kingdom and that they have approved it. This is significant move as “we are all turning toward a single God,” he added.
The king also spoke about his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in November last year. “It was a meeting I will never forget in my life. I had discussed with the pope this idea of returning to God as instructed by the divine religions,” he added.
He hoped that the delegates attending the forum would take this message to their respective countries. He expressed his readiness to hold the first meeting as quickly as possible. “If we meet and agree on things for the benefit of all religions it would be a great achievement,” he added.
King Abdullah said all religions must confront the reasons that are causing family disintegration and the spreading of atheism in the world. He also said that Saudi Arabia would hold a number of conferences to gather viewpoints of Muslims on the topic.
