The minister made this statement to Arab News following the signing of an agreement with US Centers for Disease Control Director (CDC) Dr. Thomas Frieden on Thursday.

The accord will focus on bilateral cooperation in setting up the GCDC and forming joint task forces on infectious and chronic disease outbreaks. The center will also track obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiac and renal diseases.

Under the agreement, 12 Saudis will leave for the US to visit the CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Half of them will then follow postgraduate programs in public health and the other half will pursue epidemiology and research on infectious diseases relevant to the Kingdom and the region. 

The Kingdom and the United States signed in May a cooperation agreement on health affairs at the sidelines of the 63rd World Health Assembly in Geneva. 

Al-Rabeeah, who left for Canada on Friday, signed other agreements with leading hospitals and health centers in the US.

In a statement sent to Arab News on Friday, Al-Rabeeah said an agreement was signed with the Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) "to facilitate global public health research."

"This partnership opens the way for mutually beneficial collaborative academic activities, including the training of graduate students, applied research activities, scholarly exchanges, and short courses," said RSPH Dean James W. Curran during the signing ceremony at Emory.

"We welcome the opportunity to work with our Saudi colleagues on expanding education and research initiatives between our two countries."

The Kingdom established scholarships for Saudi students to pursue medical degrees at Emory. The first group of Saudi students selected for the program will begin courses in the fall of 2011.

During his tour in the United States, the minister and his accompanying delegation visited University of Detroit, Harvard University and a children's hospital in Michigan where Al-Rabeeah spoke about his experience separating conjoined twins in the Kingdom.

Al-Rabeeah, who is the head of separation surgical team, has been successful in separating 27 conjoined twins from the Kingdom and abroad.

Participating at the Third Pediatric Conference at the children's hospital, Al-Rabeeah spoke about the Kingdom's experiences on family health and its strategic health plan to serve its citizens and residents.