Saudi Gazette report

NEOM — Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet lauded on Tuesday contents of speeches delivered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman at the inauguration of the new Shoura Council.

King Salman’s speech covered the Kingdom’s internal and external policies as well as it positions toward the current political, economic and humanitarian issues, the Cabinet noted.

The speech highlighted Saudi Arabia’s contribution to achieve regional and international security and peace, its efforts to help alleviate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic as well as to provide all kinds of comfort for pilgrims and Umrah performers.

In a virtual session chaired by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Cabinet praised the Crown Prince’s speech in which he drew the attention of the Saudi people toward unprecedented achievements the Kingdom made at all levels in a short span of time in line with the Vision 2030.

The speech highlighted the accelerating growth over the last three years, including doubling the size of the Public Investments Fund’s investments from SR560 billion to more than SR1.3 trillion as well as the vast restructuring of a number of sectors aiming to enhance the state’s non-oil revenues, the success to curb the impact of coronavirus, determination to combat terror, extremism and corruption and increasing the rates of employment.

At the outset of the session, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed profound condolence and sincere sympathy to Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the people of Bahrain on the death of Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, praying to Allah Almighty to bestow mercy upon his soul.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on the contents of the telephone call with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, covering bilateral relations and ways of enhancing them in all fields.

The Cabinet extended sincere congratulations to King Salman on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of his accession to the throne, citing the development and growth achieved during his prosperous era.

The Cabinet affirmed that the regulatory, structural and financial reforms in the electricity sector, which were approved by the Royal Order, will contribute to achieve the sustainability of raising the efficiency of the electricity sector in the Kingdom.

The Cabinet expressed confidence that these reforms will positively reflect on the sector's performance in order to enable the increase in generation efficiency of plants, reduce the use of liquid fuels, raise the level of environmental commitment, and enable the production of electricity from renewable energy sources with the aim of achieving the goals of the optimal energy mix for the production of electricity. The measures will also improve and transform the distribution networks into smart and digital networks in order to enhance the reliability of the provided service.

In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency, Acting Minister of Media, Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, said that the Cabinet expressed the Kingdom's keenness to hold G20 Riyadh Summit next Saturday and Sunday. The summit is expected to review and discuss policies and initiatives aimed at addressing the implications of the pandemic.

The Cabinet highlighted the statement issued by the Extraordinary Meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors under presidency of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding agreement on a common framework aimed to facilitate timely and orderly debt treatment for Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), with broad creditors’ participation including the private sector in light of a continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic implications.

The Cabinet reviewed the latest developments of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic at the local and international levels as well as the latest COVID19 statistics with regard to a decline in the levels of infection and spread as well as the critical cases with recording more recoveries bypassing the confirmed cases.

Dr. Al-Qasabi stated that the Cabinet renewed the Kingdom's condemnation of the Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia's continued attacks using armed drones to target civilians in Saudi Arabia.

The Cabinet affirmed that these terrorist acts target the security of petroleum exports, the stability of energy supplies to the world, the freedom of global trade, the global economy as well as the maritime navigation.

The Cabinet expressed its condemnation of terrorist acts in all forms and manifestations, including the attack in Jeddah Governorate and the shooting incident at the Kingdom's embassy in the Netherlands.

The Cabinet reviewed a number of issues and the latest developments at the regional and international arenas, expressing the Kingdom's government support for the measures taken by the Kingdom of Morocco to establish a freedom of civil and commercial movement in the Guerguerat buffer zone, Western Sahara.

The Cabinet also expressed the government's condemnation of any practices that threaten traffic in this vital crossing point between Morocco and Mauritania.

The Cabinet expressed the Kingdom's condemnation of the terrorist attack that targeted a military patrol in northeastern Burkina Faso and the missile attacks that targeted Asmara, Eritrea, affirming that these failed and cowardly terrorist acts require a serious stance to confront them and eliminate terrorism and extremist thought.