JEDDAH: As part of moves to privatize the Kingdom’s civil aviation sector, the Council of Ministers yesterday gave the green light to the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) to establish companies for running its investment units.
“The GACA will be licensed to set up the companies, either with full ownership or with the participation of private investors,” said a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency after the weekly Cabinet meeting in Riyadh.
The Cabinet decision comes ahead of the signing of contracts in Riyadh today with international companies for the commercial operations of Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam airports.
German company Fraport won the contracts to manage King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, while Shanghai International Airport Company won the contract for Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport.
Yousuf Al-Othaimeen, minister of social affairs and acting minister of culture and information, said the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Crown Prince Sultan, made a number of other important decisions.
Abdullah Al-Ruhaimy, president of GACA, said international airports would be converted into corporations, adding that the authority was studying a proposal to set up business zones within the Kingdom’s airports. There is also a plan to establish an exhibition center and a hotel at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
Referring to the recently concluded “Culture of Peace” conference organized by the UN General Assembly in New York on the initiative of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, the Cabinet commended the king’s efforts to enhance the welfare and progress of humanity.
While addressing the UN conference, the king had urged all people to live in peace and harmony. “All countries and international organizations have supported the king’s call to promote an atmosphere of tolerance and moderation and understanding through dialogue and brotherhood,” the Cabinet statement said.
The Cabinet also referred to King Abdullah’s participation in the G-20 economic summit in Washington in which he stated that the global financial crisis had exposed the danger posed by undisciplined globalization. He called for strengthening international cooperation and developing effective monitoring regimes to forestall economic crises.
The Cabinet urged all countries to set policies to confront the global recession. It also emphasized that governments should consider the negative effects of their policies on other countries. The Kingdom welcomed the recent Darfur cease-fire declared by Sudan’s President Omar Bashir and hoped it would lead to a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Speaking about other decisions, Al-Othaimeen said: “The Cabinet authorized Interior Minister Prince Naif to sign an extradition treaty with Sudan. It also endorsed the memoranda of understanding signed with Britain and France for cooperation in technical and vocational training, as well as the air transport accord with Eritrea.”
