Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Council of Ministers on Tuesday approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources and the British Ministry of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for cooperation in the field of clean energy.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman chaired the weekly session of the Cabinet at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh.

In another decision, the Cabinet authorized Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture or his deputy to sign the statute of the Arab Environment Facility, approved by the Arab League Council and its Economic and Social Council.

Minister of Media Turki Al-Shabanah said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency following the session that the Cabinet authorized Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture or his deputy to discuss and sign with the United Nations Environment Program a draft strategic cooperation agreement between the ministry and UNEP.

The Council appointed Faisal Al-Khumaisi, Muhammad Al-Khushayl and Asim Bin Saud Al-Jammaz as members of the board of the Communications and Information Technology Commission as representatives of the private sector for a period of three years.

Al-Shabanah said the Cabinet approved converting Al-Qassim Private College into a private university named “Future University.” Another decision of the Cabinet was to approve the organizational arrangements for the Local Content and Government Procurement Commission.

Al-Shabanah said the Council reviewed a number of reports on the latest developments on the Arab, regional and international arenas. It also discussed the Kingdom’s participation in the ministerial session of the Arab League Council and the meeting of the Arab Ministerial Committee on Iranian Interventions in Arab Affairs in Cairo recently.

The Council highlighted the Kingdom’s Cairo speech that reiterated its firm positions toward various regional crises experienced by some Arab countries, hoping that everyone would have a spirit of cooperation and responsibility to work to resolve them in line with the international resolutions and decisions of the relevant Arab summits.

The Cabinet was also briefed on the outcome of the recent visit of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs to Pakistan and India, in line with the directives of the Saudi leadership, to work for restoring normalcy between the two neighbors and avoid escalation of the situation that would threaten the security and stability of the entire region.