Ministry completes media preparations for summit

The media organizations under the Ministry of Culture and Information have completed preparations for giving extensive coverage for the emergency Islamic summit to be held in Makkah on Aug. 14-15. The Saudi Press Agency, Saudi Television, and the External Media Department at the ministry will represent the ministry in giving coverage for the summit, which is in line with directives of Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja and the follow-up of Deputy Minister for Media Affairs Prince Turki bin Sultan and Deputy Minister Abdullah Al-Jasser. 
The summit is being organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) following a call by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to foster Islamic unity and solidarity. Delegations from 57 OIC member countries started arriving on Wednesday. Agreements have been concluded with three major star hotels to accommodate the delegations, in addition to the Conference Palace. The executive organizing committee for the summit, which met under the chairmanship of its President Abdul Aziz Al-Oqaili, deputy head of the royal protocol, reviewed the preparations.    
Preparatory sessions for the summit will begin on August 11 with a meeting of senior officials and executive directors. The GCC foreign ministers’ conference will be held on Aug. 12, and the OIC foreign ministers conference on Aug. 13. This conference will finalize the agenda of the summit. OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said the tragic situation in Syria and the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar would figure high on the summit’s agenda.
Abdullah bin Fahd Al-Hussein, director general of SPA, said the agency had constituted a working team comprising 54 journalists and photographers who woould cover the summit proceedings round the clock basis. “The team has been swung into action since the arrival of the heads of state and leaders, and will prepare reports and hold interviews in Arabic, English and French languages. SPA has set up a special link on its website to have an easy access to the summit reports and news, in addition to arranging the facility to send an SMS about important summit news.
Abdul Aziz bin Saleh, undersecretary for external media at the ministry and general supervisor of the media committee to cover the summit, said that his department had set up four media centers – one each in Makkah, Al-Safa Palace, Jeddah Conference Palace and King Abdulaziz International Airport.
All the information and communications facilities, including computers, printers, fax machines, cameras, telephone and Internet lines have been arranged for the media persons from within the Kingdom and outside at these centers. A team of broadcasters has also been assigned with the task of live transmission of the summit conference from Makkah and Jeddah.  Suleiman Al-Eidi, assistant undersecretary for television affairs at the ministry, said that the Saudi Television, with its channels one and two as well as specialized channels of Ekhbariah, Eqtisadiah and Thaqafiya, had completed preparations to give wide coverage of the summit.  
Meanwhile, a number of prominent figures, including senior scholars and judges, lauded the commendable efforts being made by the government of Saudi Arabia in strengthening Islamic unity and solidarity and settling disputes among Muslims worldwide.
Abdullah Al-Yahya, secretary-general of the Supreme Judiciary Council, said that it is remarkable that Saudi Arabia had taken Islam as its ideology, code of law and way of life.
“From this point comes the Kingdom’s vision of Islamic solidarity since the period of its founder King Abdul Aziz. The Kingdom, with its strategic significance and lofty religious position in the hearts of world Muslims, looks like a fortress to stand by them to unify their ranks and solve their problems,” he said.
Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Humaid, member of the Supreme Court, hoped that King Abdullah’s call to hold the summit would pave the way for fostering Islamic unity and solidarity so as to confront major challenges and problems affecting their security and unity, in addition to foil machinations of enemies.
Sheikh Saleh Al-Mohaimeed, head of the appeals court and member of the Supreme Court, said that the king’s hosting of the summit would help him and the Kingdom win the love and affection of Muslims worldwide.