JEDDAH — The Cabinet, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on Tuesday afternoon at Al-Salam Palace, approved and authorized the memorandum of understandings with Iraq and Egypt on energy and space respectively.

The Council of Minister approved a memorandum of understanding between the governments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Iraq on the electric connection — an accord to connect their electricity grids, for which the MoU had been signed on Jan. 25,

It authorized the chairman of the Saudi Space Commission (SSC) to hold talks with the Egyptian side regarding a draft memorandum of understanding between the SSC and the Egyptian Space Agency in the field of space activities for peaceful purposes.

At the outset of the session, the Cabinet thanked Allah Almighty for enabling Saudi Arabia to work with the highest levels of responsibility in confronting the coronavirus pandemic and mitigating its effects.

The efforts yielded positive results in all aspects of life, including lifting the precautionary and preventive measures related to the pandemic based on the progress in the national vaccination program and the high rates of immunization and immunity against the virus in the community.

The Cabinet then reviewed the content of Saudi Arabia’s meetings with a number of countries, with the aim of strengthening the bonds of friendship and cooperation in a manner that contributes to advancing relations and supporting all that establish security, stability and prosperity in the region and the world.

In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Minister of State, Cabinet's Member for the affairs of Shoura Council and Acting Minister of Media Dr. Essam Bin Saad Bin Saeed said that the Cabinet considered Saudi Arabia’s grant of $30 million to support the Afghanistan Humanitarian Trust Fund (AHTF) a continuation of the recent Saudi relief efforts provided to the Afghan people and its support over the past decades to several development projects in Afghanistan with a cost exceeding SR1 billion.

In other decisions, the Cabinet authorized the minister of energy to hold talks with the Jordanian side regarding a draft cooperation agreement between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Jordan in the energy field.

It authorized the minister of foreign affairs to hold talks with the Senegalese side regarding a draft memorandum of understanding on political consultations between the foreign ministries of Saudi Arabia and Senegal.

The Cabinet approved a memorandum of understanding between the Saudi Post of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt Post of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

The Cabinet authorized the minister of human resources and social development, chairman of the Institute of Public Administration to hold talks with the Egyptian side regarding a draft memorandum of understanding between the Institute of Public Administration in Saudi Arabia and the Council State in Egypt in the legal field.

It also approved a cooperation agreement between the governments of the Saudi Arabia and Greece in the marine transport field; it OK’d organizational arrangements for the Strategic Bureau to Develop Jazan Region and organizational arrangements for the Strategic Bureau to Develop Al-Jouf Region and it approved the regulation of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy. — SPA