The Council of Ministers, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, also called for strengthening the existing Arab League institutions.
“Every Arab country should comply with reforms and agreed upon resolutions and show a high degree of credibility and seriousness in implementing resolutions,” the Cabinet said after the weekly meeting at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.
The Cabinet made this comment while reviewing the outcome of the emergency Arab League summit in Sirte, Libya, which made a number of resolutions for developing joint Arab work.
“The reform of the system primarily demands the activation of Arab cooperation by strengthening the Arab League. It does not require fundamental changes in the Arab League Charter,” the Cabinet said.
The Cabinet meeting welcomed the outcome of the Arab-African summit in Sirte and hoped it would contribute to further strengthening Arab-African cooperation and confronting the challenges facing the two regions.
Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja said the Cabinet banned vehicles carrying fewer than 25 passengers from entering Makkah and the holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa during the peak Haj season in order to reduce congestion.
The decision, which was taken on the recommendation of Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif and the Shoura Council, said such vehicles would be banned from Dul Qaada 15 to the end of the day of Dul Hijjah 13 every year.
However, exceptions would be made in case of some vehicles such as those licensed in accordance with regulations approved by the minister, licensed public transport vehicles and taxis transporting passengers to Makkah, Haj transport company buses having fewer than 20 passengers, which are supervised by the Car Syndicate.
Khoja said violators of the law would be given tough punishment including deportation. Violators’ vehicles would be confiscated until the end of the day of Dul Hijjah 12 and a fine of SR1,500 would be imposed on those whose violation was detected at the entrance of Makkah, SR3,000 for violations detected at the entrance of holy sites and SR5,000 for violations detected inside the holy sites. He said the punishments would be implemented fully or partially.
The Cabinet reshuffled the board members of the Saudi Food and Drugs Authority and the Health Insurance Council. It also agreed to sign a general cooperation agreement with Mauritania, and another accord with Sri Lanka for the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion.
