JEDDAH: The Council of Ministers yesterday commended the Jeddah Energy Meeting’s positive outcome in terms of discussing future plans to stabilize the international oil market and making new proposals to meet global economic challenges.
The Cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, noted the tremendous response received by the Kingdom’s call for a meeting of oil producers and consumers to discuss ways to curb skyrocketing prices. The conference, which was opened by King Abdullah at the Jeddah Hilton on Sunday, was attended by heads of state and ministers from 36 countries as well as top executives and officials of 25 oil companies and seven international organizations.
The Cabinet praised the proposals made by King Abdullah including a $1 billion energy initiative for poor countries and the Kingdom’s decision to allocate $500 million in soft loans to help developing countries carry out energy and other projects.
“Saudi Arabia always seeks to strengthen its relations with other countries in order to protect its interests as well as to serve Arab and Islamic causes,” the Cabinet said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. “These relations open horizons of dialogue, understanding and peace among countries in the world,” the statement said.
Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani said the Cabinet reviewed reports regarding the performance of service sectors such as water and electricity and prices of essential commodities. It urged the sectors to extend their services with efficiency and responsibility.
The Cabinet’s directives to service sectors come in the wake of people in many parts of the Kingdom, especially in Jeddah, suffering from extreme water shortages and power cuts.
The Cabinet sanctioned the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation to license nonprofit training centers and authorized the secretary-general of King Abdul Aziz Museum to sign a memorandum of understanding with the National Heritage Center in Turkmenistan.
The Cabinet approved the changes into Article 157 of the Companies Law. The changed article reads as follows: “A limited liability company is the one that is made up of two or more partners responsible for its losses in accordance with their shares in the capital. The number of partners in such companies should not exceed 50 unless the increase was caused by inheritance.”
