JEDDAH: The Council of Ministers yesterday decided to provide tax concessions to investors in the provinces of Hail, Northern Border, Jizan, Najran, Al-Baha and Al-Jouf for a period of 10 years, Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani said.
“A 50 percent tax cut has been offered on the annual cost of training Saudis and another 50 percent tax cut on annual salaries paid to Saudis,” Madani said after the weekly Cabinet meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. A company should invest not less than SR1 million and employ no fewer than five Saudis in basic technical and administrative jobs for a year in order to benefit from the tax cut.
The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, stressed that the government would take necessary measures to ensure economic stability and protect the country’s financial institutions from the fallout of the global financial crisis.
King Abdullah, who returned to Jeddah via Casablanca on Saturday night after attending the Culture of Peace Conference in New York and the G-20 economic summit in Washington, briefed the ministers on the outcome of his talks with US President George Bush, President-elect Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The Cabinet meeting reaffirmed the deep-rooted relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States based on friendship and mutual respect. It also underlined the Kingdom’s efforts to strengthen relations with other countries to protect its interests and mobilize international support for Arab and Islamic causes.
The Cabinet said Saudi Arabia would continue to support interfaith and cultural dialogue, highlighting common human values, to promote closer ties between countries and communities.
Speaking about the global financial crisis, the Cabinet called upon the media to provide correct information on the market situation and reassure citizens about their investments and deposits, Madani said.
The meeting condemned the Israeli blockade of Gaza and urged Palestinian groups to cooperate with Arab efforts to reconcile their differences.
The meeting also reviewed the preparations made by public and private agencies for the success of the annual pilgrimage. King Abdullah urged all government departments to mobilize their resources to ensure the welfare and security of pilgrims. More than 700,000 pilgrims have already visited Madinah and about 500,000 of them have left for Makkah.
