Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Chairs Cabinet's Virtual Session

NEOM, July 14, 2021, SPA -- The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Prime Minister, chaired the Cabinet's virtual session on Tuesday. At the outset of the meeting, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques was reassured of the complete preparedness of the agencies, concerned with serving pilgrims, to provide the highest level of care for them during the Hajj season this year and to make sure they perform the rituals in a safe and healthy environment. The agencies will provide pilgrims with all means of comfort and ensure their security and safety from the Coronavirus pandemic. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques briefed the Cabinet on the content of his official talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tarik of the Sultanate of Oman, who has recently paid an official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The official talks included discussing aspects of joint cooperation and ways to enhance and develop them, praising the cooperation and coordination achieved contributing to strengthening security and stability for the two brotherly countries, including the signing of a memorandum to establish the Saudi-Omani Coordination Council. Furthermore, a number of agreements and memoranda of understanding in various fields were concluded, raising the economic cooperation by stimulating the public and private sectors to reach qualitative trade and investment exchanges that contribute to achieving the objectives of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and Sultanate's Vision 2040, and emphasizing the strengthening of cooperation in areas of environment, food security as well as the Green Middle East Initiative due to its benefit at local, regional and global levels. On behalf of the Acting Minister of Media, the Minister of State and Member of the Cabinet, Dr. Issam bin Saad bin Saeed said, in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), that the Cabinet addressed the statement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the conclusion of consultations on Article 4, emphasizing the continuing recovery of the Saudi economy and praising its outstanding success in several aspects, citing a most difficult year on the whole world in view of the repercussions of the COVID-19 Pandemic, fluctuations in oil prices, a decline of its global demand and a slowdown in growth, which reflects the prominent role of the economic and structural reforms carried out within the framework of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and its contribution to achieving sustainable and comprehensive economic growth. The Cabinet considered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia winning the chairmanship of the Executive Council of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), as a continuation of its pivotal role, and keenness to achieve the goals of the organization. The Cabinet reviewed the latest developments regionally and globally, reiterating the Kingdom's support for Egypt and Sudan to preserve their legitimate river water rights, calling on the international community to find a clear mechanism to re-start negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to find a solution to this crisis in order to achieve the interests of the three Nile river basin countries, under international auspices and in agreement with the African Union and the Arab League. --SPA