King Abdullah: Double efforts for success of Haj

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday urged all government departments to double their efforts to provide excellent services to the millions of pilgrims who have come for Haj. King Abdullah was addressing the weekly Cabinet meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. The meeting reviewed the Kingdom’s preparations for the largest annual gathering of Muslims in the world. At the outset of the Cabinet session, the king welcomed the guests of God on behalf of the government and people of Saudi Arabia. “We thank the Almighty for his great blessings on this country, including the blessing to serve the guests of God who come to the Kingdom to perform Haj from all corners of the world,” the king said. According to an SPA report, King Abdullah has approved the recommendations made by the Supreme Haj Committee, which is chaired by Interior Minister Prince Ahmed, to improve the services being rendered to the guests of God and ensure their safety. The Cabinet discussed the latest developments at regional and international levels and the king briefed the ministers on his talks with the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi. The two had discussed the current situation in Syria and ways of ending all kinds of violence and human rights abuses there. The Cabinet lauded the recommendations and decisions made by the GCC ministers of municipal and rural affairs, petroleum, culture and information, water and electricity who held their meetings in Riyadh last week. Minister of Information Abdul Aziz Khoja said the Cabinet congratulated the king on the great success achieved by the King Abdullah International Translation Award, which was distributed among the winners during a ceremony in Berlin last week. The Cabinet said the award would promote intellectual and cultural communication among global cultures, adding that it would support the king’s interfaith and cultural dialogue initiative to strengthen global peace. The Cabinet authorized the chairman of the Board of Directors of King Abdul Aziz Foundation for Research and Archives or his deputy to discuss with the Algerian side a draft agreement for cooperation. It endorsed an agreement with Mauritania to cooperate in the field of combating crime. The Cabinet also approved a cooperation agreement with Malta in the field of combating terrorism, organized crime, illicit trading and smuggling of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The Cabinet approved a cooperation framework agreement in the fields of agriculture, livestock and fisheries between the Kingdom and Ethiopia, which was signed in Riyadh on Jan. 3. The Cabinet approved the addition of a representative of the Department of Zakat and Income Tax, Ministry of Finance, and a representative of Capital Market Authority as members of the board of directors of the Saudi Organization for Certified Accountants. It approved the appointment of Fareed bin Kamel Azhar ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Salah bin Fahd Al-Mazroe undersecretary for supplying and engineering affairs at the Ministry of Health; Abdullah bin Rajeh Al-Buqami director general of financial and administrative Affairs at the Ministry of Higher Education; Musaad bin Abdul Aziz Al-Fakheri head of the sector at the Ministry of Finance; Mohammed bin Saad Al-Shethri head of the sector at the Ministry of Finance; and Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al-Jouf adviser of petroleum affairs at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. From arabnews