RIYADH: Saudi Arabia yesterday urged the UN Security Council to shoulder its moral responsibility toward ending the bloodbath in Syria, being perpetrated by the regime of Bashar Assad. The Kingdom appealed to the UN to take immediate steps to provide medical and humanitarian assistance to civilian victims.
The Council of Ministers, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, also welcomed the UN decision to hold a humanitarian forum in Geneva on Thursday to estimate the relief requirements of the Syrian people.
“The council reiterated its call for the Security Council to exercise its legitimate role and shoulder its moral responsibility by taking initiative to call for an end to violence and put an end to the killing of Syrian people,” Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja said.
Shoura Council Chairman Dr. Abdullah Al-Asheikh, meanwhile, told a conference of Arab parliamentarians in Kuwait City yesterday that Saudi Arabia was following the situation in Syria with deep concern as a result of growing violence in the country.
The Cabinet commended the resolutions taken by a GCC meeting held in Riyadh on Sunday, which discussed the king’s proposal to transform the six-member group into a powerful union in order to achieve greater integration among its member countries.
The Cabinet referred to the Jeddah Economic Forum, the International Book Fair in Riyadh, the Saudi-Lebanese Economic Forum in Beirut and the Saudi-Sudanese Joint Committee meeting in Khartoum, saying these events would contribute to strengthening the Kingdom’s economic and cultural development and enhancing its international stature. Khoja said the Cabinet authorized Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, to hold talks with South Korea and sign an agreement on tourism.
Justice Minister Muhammad Al-Eissa has been assigned to hold talks with his Uzbek counterpart to sign an agreement for cooperation in judicial matters.
“The Cabinet also endorsed an agreement with Poland to avoid double taxation and prevent tax evasion,” Khoja said. The two countries signed the taxation accord in Riyadh on Feb. 22, 2012.
The Cabinet approved the final accounts of the Saudi Fund for Development for 2010.
The meeting appointed Abdul Aziz bin Ibrahim Al-Ghadeer and Dr. Adel bin Muhammad Noufal as ambassadors; Gharamallah bin Ateeq Al-Zahrani as minister plenipotentiary at the Foreign Ministry; Abdullah bin Ateeq Al-Fawaz and Yahya bin Muhammad Al-Matroudi as legal experts at the Cabinet’s experts committee; and Murshid bin Abdullah Al-Anazi assistant undersecretary at the governorate of the Northern Border Province.
