JEDDAH: The Council of Ministers yesterday highlighted Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s pioneering role in unifying Arab ranks and supporting Arab and Islamic causes in international forums.
“King Abdullah has also worked to strengthen the unity of humanity by fostering international dialogue between followers of different faiths and cultures,” the Saudi Press Agency said quoting the Cabinet.
In a statement on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of King Abdullah’s accession to the throne, the Cabinet underscored the king’s efforts to make use of modern science and technology in order to boost the country’s overall development.
“We are proud of the great achievements made by the Kingdom during the last four years under the leadership of King Abdullah,” the Cabinet said. Proper planning had been made for the development of various sectors with a clear strategy, it added.
King Abdullah, who chaired the Cabinet meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah, briefed the ministers on the outcome of his talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, adding that the talks focused on the efforts to revive the Middle East peace process.
The Cabinet referred to the establishment of two chairs in the name of King Abdullah and Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif at King Saud University and Madinah Islamic University respectively to conduct research on strengthening the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The Cabinet approved the transformation of 44 rural centers into municipalities. It also classified municipalities into five categories.
The meeting agreed to change the date for the beginning of the next academic year for all educational institutions to Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009.
The Cabinet approved the publication of important decisions taken by legal committees of various government departments. The department of information technology at the Finance Ministry and other ministries will set up websites of the committees in order to publish their decisions electronically. The department can either contract with a printing firm or assign a private party to print a limited number of copies of the decisions. Revenues from the sales of such documents could be used to meet printing expenses.
Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja said the Cabinet authorized the minister of water and electricity to sign a memorandum of understanding with South Korea for cooperation in water and sewage management.
The meeting approved alteration to Article 17 of the Military Service Law, allowing the combination of two increments. It appointed Jedaie bin Nahar Al-Qahtani adviser for technical affairs at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs; Abdussalam bin Suleiman Mushat deputy mayor of Makkah for services; Shuja bin Yahya Al-Musleh deputy mayor of Dammam for municipal affairs; Khaled bin Othman Al-Saghir legal department director at the Education Ministry; Abdullah bin Fahd Al-Musaed director of educational information at the Ministry of Education; and Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al-Humaidhi director of the foreign scholarship program at the Ministry of Higher Education.
