The following is the full text of the address of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman in the Shoura Council:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Compassionate, Praise be to Allah, and prayer and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, His Family, and Companions.

I am pleased to inaugurate the works of the 4th year of the 6th session of the Shoura Council, praying to Allah Almighty to guide us to perform the responsibility in the best way.

Brothers and sisters:

I am pleased in this meeting to review the internal and external policies of the Kingdom, and the most prominent developments and challenges in this regard, looking forward so that we all cooperate in the promotion of the achievements and address the obstacles so as to contribute to upgrading our dear homeland and the level of services provided to its citizens.

The march of development is continuing on a firm pace since the reign of King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud, and later his late sons, until the present era, and on top of our commitments is that our country was honored by Allah Almighty for its service to the Two Holy Mosques and the visitors who come for Haj and Umrah, a commitment which we are proud of, and we have pledged to Allah Almighty to spend dearly in this regard, topped by the state’s interest in the construction of the Two Holy Mosques and their expansion.

Brothers and sisters:

The development programs and growth being witnessed emanate from religious principles and social values to preserve the rights and set duties, and we are determined to continue those programs in political, cultural, economic, social and service aspects; therefore we directed the restructuring of the Cabinet’s bodies followed by the cancelation of numerous councils, commissions and committees, and the transfer of their specialization to the Council of Political and Security Affairs, and the Council of Economic Affairs and Development, and through these two councils under the supervision and follow-up of the Cabinet, efforts will continue in promoting the march of development and access to the integration of roles, determination of responsibilities, keeping abreast of developments, improvement of the work environment and strengthening the state’s apparatuses.

Dear brothers and sisters:

The rise in oil prices has contributed, over the past years, to the flow of large financial revenues of which the State was keen on the adoption of several mega development projects and the development of infrastructure as well as enhancing the State’s general reserve, which enabled our country to overcome the repercussions of the drop in oil prices, by not affecting the implementation of development plans and projects, and our economy has continued its real growth despite the international economic fluctuations and falling oil prices, thanks to balanced and prudent economic policies pursued by the State in controlling the public fiscal situation and maintaining stability and balance between resources and spending on mega development projects in all sectors.

We have succeeded in maintaining the levels of public debt, which is still low compared to international rates and the Kingdom is keen to carry out the diversification of income sources and reduce dependence on oil as a major source of income, and our vision of economic reform is based on raising the efficiency of government spending, taking advantage of the economic resources and increasing the returns of government investment. We have directed the Council of Economic Affairs and Development to develop the necessary plans, policies and programs to do that, as our country is one of the good and giving.

Dear brothers and sisters:

The 10th development plan which kicked off this year on a solid economic development base and keeping pace with the aspirations and the most important developments and challenges. The development plan aims to raise the gross domestic product level, consolidate the comprehensive economic development pillars, develop manpower and raise its employment rates, and increase spending on infrastructure, and the Council of Economic Affairs and Development through its mechanisms will follow up to ensure the success of the workflow and enhance the level of performance, and in this context, the National Center for Measuring the Performance of Government Bodies has been established and we have directed, upon what has been recommended by the Council of Economic Affairs and Development that ministries and government agencies shall submit its trends and visions to the Council.

We are also keen to improve the Saudi commercial market and form an attractive environment for work and investment for national and foreign companies as well as to simplify the procedures and facilitate investment in the Saudi market. We have directed to open the activity of retail and wholesale trade for foreign companies in an effort to diversify the goods and services provided to citizens and their provision with high quality and proper competitive prices and to open new job opportunities and training for Saudi youths.

Dear brothers and sisters:

The health sector remains one of our most prominent priorities as the State is responsible for providing adequate health care for citizens, and we have continued to provide human and financial subsidies for this sector, contributing to upgrading the level of this service. However, we look forward to continuing this trend, including the provision of more national manpower, opening more and more medical and health colleges, and raising the proportion of scholarships in medical specialties.

As for education, the State is keen to make Saudi human development among its most prominent investments, providing all the necessary resources to raise the quality of education, increase its effectiveness, upgrade the level of its beneficiaries and equip them with the required skills and requirements. In this context, the focus of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program for External Scholarship was to harmonize the outputs of education and the needs of the labor market so that it contributes to bridging the gap in the labor market of some specialties, particularly medicine and other scientific professions.

With regard to the housing sector, everyone is aware of the care the State is lending to this sector, including the huge budgets allocated for it and all means of support needed to provide adequate housing for beneficiaries. In this regard, the State has encouraged investment in this field and enhanced the role of the private sector to become a partner complementary to the efforts of the government in achieving this goal.

Also, the State sought to achieve balance between supply and demand, stimulate landowners to develop and invest in them so as to contribute to bridging the growing need for housing, and our endorsement for the undeveloped land fees system is part of our endeavor to achieve this goal.

The labor and human resources sector occupies an advanced position in the hierarchy of priorities of the government, which continued to modernize administrative and financial program arrangements. The development of a human resources program was launched as part of raising the efficiency of government agencies and employees performance.

The government has recently established a job-creation agency to orchestrate coordination and participation efforts among all labor-related government and private agencies, and work to develop job-creating sectors and exploit the competitive advantage in the different administrative regions of the Kingdom for this purpose, as well as the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises and the national program to support the management of projects departments in public entities.

The State also paid great attention to the expansion of women’s participation in the country’s development and society in a way that does not contradict with the teachings of our divine religion. Saudi women have proven their efficiency and ability to fulfill their role in various fields, including their active participation in the recently held municipal elections.

Bearing in mind that the transport sector is the sinew and mainstay of development, the government has pumped a large amount of money in order to provide road structure in the Kingdom, with transportation projects continuing to develop and diversify, and road projects between cities of the Kingdom increasing e.g. the Al-Haramain Train project, Saudi Railways Company projects and King Abdulaziz Public Transport project in the city of Riyadh.

Dear brothers and sisters:

We are a Muslim society, unified by the faith in Allah, following the doctrine, law and methodology of his book and the Sunnah of His

Prophet, peace be upon him. The Islamic Shariah is based on right, justice, tolerance and uprooting the reasons causing sedition.

Accordingly, everyone is aware of the importance of national unity, the rejection of all reasons causing difference and conflicts, hurting the disruption of national unity and tampering the national coherence.

Citizens are equal in getting their rights, and fulfilling their obligations and duties. So we, all of us, have to preserve this unity,

and decisively address evil and sedition calls whatever their source or means of dissemination. In this regard, the media have to hold a great responsibility.

Dear brothers and sisters:

Your state continues to support the efforts being exerted to confront the challenges and risks engulfing the Arab and Islamic nations. In this regard, we have directed the Council for Political and Security Affairs to propose the necessary plans, programs and visions to meet these challenges and risks.

Security is among the most important blessings bestowed by Allah Almighty on our country, being the pillar of stability and welfare of peoples. The Saudi citizen has, and still, observes his responsibility in this regard. He is the frontrunning security man and his leadership and government’s right hand in defeating the spiteful and the greedy enemies of our nation. However, we will not allow anyone to tamper with our security and stability.

Dear brothers and sisters:

Terrorism is a global scourge that has hurt many countries and peoples, as it has neither religion nor homeland. The security authorities of our State have exerted great efforts to counter terrorists firmly and strongly. They have managed, thanks to Allah Almighty, to pursue them, prosecute them and dismantle their networks and cells in addition to successfully carrying out pre-emptive security operations that effectively contributed to evade their evils and foil their plans.

Furthermore, we are determined, with the help of Allah, to support and strengthen our security capabilities by all means and modern appliances that enable them to perform their duties and undertake responsibilities in the best way as it is the source of our pride.

We, in the Kingdom, have suffered from the scourge of terrorism. We were and are still keen to continue firmly and decisively fighting and combating the thoughts of terrorists who dare to borrow Islamic teachings to justify their ill doings while Islam is completely innocent of such fallacy. Combating and addressing terrorism, uprooting its roots and draining its resources is, no doubt, a joint international responsibility as its danger surrounds everybody.

Emanating from this, the Islamic Military Alliance, led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was formed to combat terrorism. In this regard, a joint operations center was established in the city of Riyadh to coordinate and support military operations for the fight against terrorism and to develop the necessary programs and mechanisms supporting those efforts and put the appropriate arrangements for coordination with friendly and peace-loving countries and international bodies for facilitating the international efforts to combat terrorism and maintain international peace and security. The Kingdom has made and will continue to spare no effort in this regard.

Dear brothers and sisters:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is keen to defend the Arab and Islamic issues at international platforms, topped by obtaining the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and establishing their independent state with Al-Quds as its capital, an endeavor long-sought by the Kingdom. In this concern, the Kingdom confirms once more that the recent Israeli violations, notably, the escalation and irresponsible actions of killing children, women and civilians and defenseless innocents as well as the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque and violation of its sanctity, and targeting worshipers are great crimes, which should be halted. The continuing Israeli settlement construction works must be suspended and the old ones removed. The Kingdom calls upon the international community to shoulder its responsibilities and take the necessary measures to protect the Palestinian people against the Israeli aggressive practices, which are a provocation for all Arab and Muslim feelings.

Within the framework of the Kingdom’s keenness to perform its duties toward the brotherly countries and support them, the “Decisive Storm” operation was launched with the participation of a number of Arab and Islamic countries at the request of the legitimate Yemeni government to save Yemen from a coup against its legitimacy, security and stability. This group sought to dominate and sow discord in the region, threaten the security of neighboring states, including the Kingdom, and strictly carry out regional plots seeking to interfere in the internal affairs of Arab countries through turning Yemen into a hotbed of sectarian and doctrinal conflicts, a development triggering the coalition countries to deal with this threat encircling the security and people of Yemen as well as the entire Arab security and to restore Yemeni legitimacy and stability, ward off threats posed by this group and its regional supporters and secure the region’s stability and territorial integrity.

Then, the Renewal of Hope Operation was launched in addition to programs of relief and humanitarian assistance to the Yemeni people through the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Works in order for the Yemeni people to overcome the serious sufferings and bypass the extraordinary circumstances and conditions to pave the way for regaining their natural role regionally and internationally in an atmosphere of security and stability.

Since beginning of the crisis until now, the Kingdom was calling for a political solution in accordance with the GCC initiative, the outcomes of the national comprehensive dialogue and the Security Council Resolution No. 2216.

The Kingdom’s stance toward the Syrian crisis is also clear since its start. It seeks that Syria remains a unified homeland for all Syrian communities and calls for a political solution to snatch the country of Syria out of its crisis and enable its people to establish a transitional government composed of moderate opposition forces that guarantee the unity of the Syrians, the departure of foreign troops and terrorist organizations which would have never found fertile ground in Syria except for the Syrian regime’s ugly policies which led to the extermination of hundreds of thousands of Syrians and the displacement of millions.

Based on the keenness to achieve security, stability and justice in Syria, the Kingdom hosted a meeting for all parties in the Syrian opposition aiming to find a political solution ensuring the unity of the Syrian territories in accordance with the resolutions of Geneva 1.

Dear brothers and sisters:

During the recent period, we were keen to enhance and develop our relations with many of the sisterly and friendly countries through exchanging visits with many leaders of the world. We will continue this path to enhance the Kingdom’s regional and international role.

Within this framework, the Kingdom hosted the 4th Summit of Arab-South American Countries which issued the “Riyadh Declaration” which underscored the importance of full implementation of the Security Council resolution on the Yemeni crisis and the rejection of any interference in the internal affairs of countries in the region by foreign powers, otherwise considered a violation of the United Nations Charter on good-neighborliness and principles. The Riyadh Declaration stressed the importance of respecting independence of the states and their unity, territorial integrity and solving disputes with peaceful means. The declaration also voiced recognition of the State of Palestine in addition to a number of political and economic issues concerning the Arab and South American countries.

The Kingdom also participated in the Group of Twenty (G-20) Summit hosted by the Republic of Turkey, a step reflecting the prestigious and important position of our country in the map of the global economy. During this summit, the Kingdom contributed to develop economic relations among the countries, overcome obstacles and constraints, and encourage and support the flow of investments, exchange of the expertise, technology transfer and cooperation in all fields for the benefit and interest of all.

Within the framework of continuous coordination with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the 36th Session of the Supreme Council of the GCC Member States was held in Riyadh on 27/28, Safar, 1437H. During the summit, we provided our vision to the GCC leaders in order to enhance march of the GCC joint action which was approved by the Supreme Council as per the Riyadh Declaration in addition to the resolutions issued in this session in various fields, hoping to achieve the aspirations of the GCC peoples.

In the field of energy, the Kingdom continued its interest in the stability of the oil market by pursuing a balanced policy taking into account the interests of producers and consumers alike, ensuring the stability of the market and protecting the interests of present and future generations. The Kingdom is keen to continue exploration of oil, gas and other natural resources in the Kingdom. The prospects for our economy are promising, thanks to Allah Almighty.

Dear brothers and sisters:

Your State is keen to improve performance of its agencies in order to achieve aspirations and hopes of its citizens in all fields. It is aware that many challenges are facing the Kingdom, but it is determined to overcome them and provide a decent life for its citizens.

We appreciate the role of Shourah Council and its sound views regarding internal and external affairs. We look forward to seeing the council continuing to play its role seriously and effectively.

May Allah help all of us.

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullah wabrakatuh.