Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia on Tuesday called on the international community to live up to its responsibilities to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine and stop attacks against civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Saudi appeal came during a Cabinet meeting, which reiterated the need to revive the Middle East peace process.

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

At the outset of the meeting, the Cabinet was briefed on the content of a letter received by the King from Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and a phone call received by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The ministers discussed the preparations for the Kingdom’s participation in the upcoming G20 meetings in light of its keenness to provide solutions and develop initiatives to address challenges facing global economy, including a framework for common action to tackle debt and the Saudi role in implementing the Financial Intermediary Fund for Health Security with a financial support of $50 million.

They also discussed the Kingdom’s cooperation with the Indonesian G20 presidency in 2022 to develop a response to the global food crisis and continue implementing those initiatives in partnership with India, which holds the G20 presidency this year.

In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the meeting, Acting Minister of Media Dr. Majid Al-Qasabi said the Cabinet followed up developments in the region and around the world, especially in Palestine.

He said the Cabinet stressed the need to revive the peace process and called on the international community to assume its responsibilities to end the occupation, stop Israeli attacks, and provide the necessary protection for civilians.

He said the meeting reiterated the Kingdom’s rejection of the repeated buring and desecration of the Holy Qur’an in several European capitals and stressed the importance of addressing such practices by the governments of those countries so as not to provoke the feelings of Muslims around the world.

The ministers welcomed the signing of agreements and memorandums of understanding during the Riyadh Global Medical Biotechnology Summit, as well as the discussions during the event that focused on developments in the sector, investment opportunities, and ways to consolidate and enhance the Kingdom’s leading position in this field, in line with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 to diversify the national economy through research and development of scientific knowledge, Al-Qasabi said.

The Cabinet commended the outcomes of the Municipal Investment Forum (Furas) in Riyadh, during which investment portals were launched for Saudi cities, and 125 contracts and agreements worth over SR12 billion ($3.1 billion) were signed, providing more than 5,000 investment opportunities for the private sector. The event last week reviewed about 200 projects for entrepreneurs and announced the biggest investment opportunity of its kind in outdoor advertising.

The Cabinet approved a cooperation agreement between the Saudi and Uzbekistan ministries of energy, and another one between the Saudi Ministry of Education and Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education.

It authorized the minister of culture to sign a draft memorandum of understanding for cultural cooperation with Mali's Ministry of Crafts, Culture, Hotel Industry and Tourism and approved a memorandum of understanding between the Saudi and Senegalese governments to encourage direct investment.

The Cabinet also approved a MoU on between the Saudi Saline Water Conversion Corporation and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, and authorized the minister of health to sign a draft MoU for cooperation with the Tunisian Ministry of Health.

The minister of media, and chairman of the board of directors of the General Authority for Audiovisual Media, was authorized to sign a draft MoU with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India, and the president of the Islamic University of Madinah to sign a draft MoU with the Islamic Development Bank Group.

In other decisions, the Cabinet approved a recommendation to name the year 2023 as “the Year of Arabic Poetry.”

And the Saudi government will continue covering visa issuance fees for seasonal laborers to be recruited by the Project for Utilization of Sacrificial Meat for Hajj Season 1444AH.

The amended Paragraph 12 of Article 11 in the Chemical Substances Management Bylaw to read as follows: “The disposal of chemical waste is to be carried out by a specialized facility, licensed by the National Center for Waste Management, with a notification to be sent to the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture before any waste disposal process is carried out according to relevant regulations.”