Ain-Al-Yaqeen - April 15, 2005

		April 15, 2005

THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE SHOURA COUNCIL OF THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA SWORN BEFORE THE CUSTODIAN OF THE TWO HOLY MOSQUES KING FAHD IBN ABDUL AZIZ.
KING FAHD IBN ABDUL AZIZ: THERE IS NO PLACE IN OUR RELIGION FOR VIOLENCE, INTOLERANCE, EXTREMISM, OPPRESSION, TERRORISM AND AGGRESSION ON INNOCENT PEOPLE AND THEIR PROPERTIES AND WE WILL NOT ALLOW A CORRUPT GROUP LED BY DEVIANT THOUGHTS TO UNDERMINE OUR COUNTRY'S SECURITY AND STABILITY.
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST EXERT EFFORTS TO STOP THE BLOODSHED ON THE PALESTINIAN AND IRAQI ARENAS AND REALIZE PEACE IN THE REGION.
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SHOURA COUNCIL: ENVY CAMPAIGNS HAVE NO RELATION WITH OUR RELIGION OR ETHICS, WE ARE ALL DIGGING DEEP IN THE SAME TRENCH TO FIGHT THE ENEMIES OF OUR RELIGION.

The Chairman and members of the Shoura Council of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were sworn before the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz.

Led by Chairman of the Shoura Council Sheikh Dr. Salih Ibn Abdullah Ibn Homaid, Deputy Chairman of the council Eng. Mahmoud Ibn Abdullah Taiba, Assistant Chairman of the council Dr. Salih Ibn Saud Al-Ali, and the Secretary General of the council Dr. Salih Ibn Abdullah Al Malik, the members were sworn in at the Royal Court at Al Yamamah palace in the presence of Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard; Prince Mishaal Ibn Abdul Aziz; and Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General. At the outset of the reception, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques announced the opening of the new fourth session of the Shoura Council.

Saudi Arabia reaffirmed that it would not allow any "deviant or corrupt group" to undermine the country's security and stability. "We'll leave no stone unturned in our bid to combat terror," Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz told the Shoura Council.

Inaugurating the 150-member council's first session of a new four-year term, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques said the Kingdom would go ahead with its reform and development programs. He stressed the government's efforts to achieve speedy growth in all sectors and estimated total investments in the industrial sector at more than SR260 billion.

"There are 3,700 factories providing 354,000 jobs," he added.

In his keynote address, which dealt with foreign policy, economic liberalization, privatization programs, women's jobs and Arab League reforms, King Fahd reiterated Saudi Arabia's commitment to stabilize world oil market. "We'll work to achieve a balance between the interests of producers and consumers," the Saudi Press Agency quoted him as saying.

The Shoura inauguration comes a day after the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques reshuffled the consultative body, inducting highly educated and experienced professionals and expanding its membership from 120 to 150.

More than two-thirds of its members hold doctorates. Shoura Chairman Dr. Saleh Ibn Humaid and its members took oath before the king during the ceremony.

Ibn Humaid thanked the king for widening the council's role and said he hoped for greater progress over the next four years. "I am sure that the coming sessions would witness major qualitative and objective changes in terms of the Shoura's responsibilities, powers, structure and mode of work," he added.

Shoura members echoed his call, saying the body should have more oversight of government decisions. "We will need to discuss the budget and important ministries like the oil ministry," said Abdul Aziz Al-Oraier. Economist Ehsan Bu-Hulaiga said the council had made strides toward playing a legislative role and was "progressing" in its quest for scrutiny of the government.

King Fahd lambasted the "deviant group", the government's term for Al-Qaeda militants, for carrying out a series of terrorist attacks in the Kingdom, killing innocent people and destroying public and private property.

"There is no place in our religion for violence, intolerance, extremism, oppression, terrorism and aggression on innocent people and their properties. Islam has nothing to do with such practices. A true Muslim will keep away from them and will not sympathize with its perpetrators. We'll not allow a corrupt group led by deviant thoughts to undermine our country's security and stability," he said.

King Fahd referred to the recent nationwide anti-terror campaign, which lasted for 15 days, as well as the Counterterrorism International Conference in Riyadh, which was attended by delegates from 60 countries and organizations.

The Riyadh conference had called for a pivotal UN role in settling regional disputes peacefully to prevent terrorist organizations from exploiting the suffering of peoples.

The Kingdom has been successful in its anti-terror campaign. Last week, security forces killed 15 terrorists in a fierce gun battle in Al-Rass, 320 kilometres northwest of Riyadh. The Interior Ministry identified four more terrorists shot dead in the battle as Naif Al-Aushen, Walid Al-Samaani, Miteb Al-Maqati and Saad Al-Oqail.

The King's speech also dealt with economic reforms, which will help cope with international developments and achieve greater progress and prosperity. He said the Kingdom's Five-Year Development Plans were aimed at developing manpower and improving its productiveness, adding that the 8th five-year plan would create more jobs for Saudis. He referred to last year's Cabinet decision that called for expanding job opportunities for women.

He expected that the new five-year plan (2005-2010) would strengthen the country's diversification program by creating new non-oil revenue sources and promoting the private sector's role in production and investment as well as in competing with international companies.

The plan has given priority to economic stability, modernization, privatization and administrative development.

"The new plan also aims at creating a suitable atmosphere to increase national and foreign investment while continuing public investments in development sectors and improving performance of government agencies," he said, adding that it would also increase Saudi exports.

King Fahd renewed Saudi Arabia's unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and called for an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He hoped the Iraqis would be able to build a new, united, stable and secure Iraq.

The King urged the Lebanese people to stand united and keep away from actions that would create division. He also stressed the importance of the new Arab League charter for unity and solidarity.

In his address, Chairman Ibn Humaid said the Shoura Council had won international acclaim within a short span of time.

"We have achieved membership in Arab, Islamic and international parliamentary federations in the last four years," he said. He also noted King Fahd's political, economic and judicial reforms, and his efforts in protecting human rights and promoting national dialogue.

During the last four-year term, the Shoura Council discussed 438 vital topics related to development, took 387 resolutions regarding laws, agreements, charters and annual reports of ministries and government departments, Ibn Humaid said, adding that Shoura members had full freedom in expressing their views.

He said the expansion of the Shoura would realize three goals: Unity, representation of all regions and strengthening the council to take appropriate decisions.

He said the new Shoura Council is distinguished with a team of highly qualified people who are specialized in many fields.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz received members of the Shoura Council. In a speech addressed to them the monarch said that the achievement of the goals of development plans has been done within the comprehensive concept of developing human resources; continual improvement of these resources; the achievement of proportion between population growth and human resources; and the adoption of good planning to develop and administer the human resources so as to improve their productive efficiency.

The King added that among the goals are the continual adoption of the national workforce program to replace foreign laborers, the increase of woman participation in the workforce in accordance with the Cabinet's decision dated 12/4/1425H. which provided for the expansion of the fields of woman work and the increase in job opportunities for women.

The Kingdom has established a system of higher, public and technical education and vocational training institutions. The work is underway to restructure education and training institutions to satisfy the needs of development with the national skilful workforce and to lay stress on mutual relations between the productive work and the fields of human development, King Fahd said.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques added that the rapid economic growth in the Kingdom during the years of development plans has been accompanied by providing many job opportunities. With these efforts, however, the labor market has witnessed some problems such as an increase in the rate of foreign workforce in comparison with the relative increase in unemployment of the national workforce. The eighth development plan aims at providing job opportunities for citizens through continual economic growth, new investments, education, development of capabilities and skills of the national workforce and probing of foreign employment.

The King noted that the Cabinet's decision in Muharram, 1426H had laid the mechanism to confront the problem unemployment among citizens and the increase of the rate of foreign laborers. The decision stated that all concerned bodies, Saudi universities, and the media should support the labor ministry in measures taken to reduce issuance of visas, train Saudis and activate the role of the private sector. It also stressed that all government sectors and bodies and public establishments should directly and fully coordinate with the ministry of labor and the ministry of civil service with regard to the employment and the replacement of foreign laborers with the national workforce.

King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz said that the current budget included appropriations for the development in various producing and servicing sectors which demonstrated the strength of the Saudi economy and the wide horizons of the growth of its sectors at a high rate over the coming years. The budget coincided with the start of the 8th development plan aiming to achieve a great leap in services and facilities for citizens.

The budget included SR 75.5 billion for new projects and programs in various regions. It also included a great increase in capitals of lending and financing funds established by the government to provide facilities and soft loans for citizens.

The King indicated that orders have been issued to benefit from the extraordinary increase in the revenues, adding that SR 41 billion of revenue surplus was appropriated to implement additional servicing projects and that SR 30 billion of this sum was appropriated for an additional program to develop services.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques pointed to the increase in the capitals of Real Estate Development Fund with a sum of SR 9 billion and Saudi Credit Bank with SR 3 billion.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the first year of the Shoura Council's four-year fourth session, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques said Shoura (consultation) is a principle of Islam, a pillar of the system of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a tradition which was actively practiced in the Kingdom for 80 years.

He recalled that the third article of the Shoura Council system was thrice amended to accommodate the expansion of the assembly from 60 to 90 members in its second session, from 90 to 120 in its third session and from 120 to 150 in the current fourth session.

Islam is the religion that calls for benevolence and rejects evil, calls for peaceful co-existence among nations and civilizations and bars aggression and corruption. In Islam there is no room for violence, extremism, fanaticism, oppression, terrorism or assault against people or confiscation of properties of others, the monarch said, vowing that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will never allow the deviant group to harm the security of the nation or destabilize it.

King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz said the Saudi authorities would spare no effort to confront all forms of terrorism, pointing to the fact that the Kingdom has carried out a fierce fight against it locally and is committed to the United Nations relevant resolutions as regards combating the phenomenon.

In this connection, the Kingdom has launched a 15-day national campaign against terrorism, starting from 25/12/1425 H., which commenced with the International Anti-terrorism Conference that was hosted by the Kingdom and attended by representatives from 60 countries and international and regional organizations, King Fahd said, recalling that Crown Prince Abdullah has presented a proposal, which won the participants' approval; namely, the setting up of an international center for fighting terrorism.

Summarizing the outcome of the conference, the King Fahd said the it approved a comprehensive strategy to orchestrate the world community efforts that focus on the need for a pioneering role of the United Nations; settling regional and international disputes peacefully so that terrorist organizations would miss the chance to exploit the sufferings of peoples; rejecting any link between terrorism and Islam; paving the way for understanding and joint cooperation among different countries; enhancing multi-cultural dialogue; enhancing international, regional and bilateral cooperation among countries to dry out the financial sources of terrorism and organized crime and illegal drug, explosives, and weapons trade.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques said the Saudi government will continue the non-stop march of development, noting the recent economic decisions which were based on a long-term flexible economic plan that copes with the major international economical changes.

King Fahd cited the recent new municipal councils system and the numerous economic regulations and measures that together formed a turning point in the economic and social policy and provided strong impetus for more and more growth and prosperity.

The Monarch said the Kingdom's economic plans have been successful in setting up the projects which are able to lead the development and modernization process, the transfer of advanced technology, and the provision of high-level standards of education and social services, including health.

King Fahd pointed to the social aspect of the economic plans, noting to the social care services in all fields, including the services rendered to the handicapped.

Giving figures on the role of oil in implementing and accelerating development, the monarch said the size of investment in the field of industry rose to more than SR260 billion, the number of factories increased to more that 3700 offering more than 354,000 job opportunities, SABIC occupied the world's first place in some industries, the transportation sector implemented or having under construction more than 73,000 kilometers of roads, and telecommunications have been making great strides.

The monarch said that the achievement of the goals of development plans has been done within the comprehensive concept of developing human resources; continual improvement of these resources; the achievement of proportion between population growth and human resources; and the adoption of good planning to develop and administer the human resources so as to improve their productive efficiency.

The King added that among the goals are the continual adoption of the national workforce program to replace foreign laborers, the increase of woman participation in the workforce in accordance with the Cabinet's decision dated 12/4/1425H. which provided for the expansion of the fields of woman work and the increase in job opportunities for women.

The Kingdom have established a system of higher, public and technical education and vocational training institutions. The work is underway to restructure education and training institutions to satisfy the needs of development with the national skillful workforce and to lay stress on mutual relations between the productive work and the fields of human development, King Fahd said.

The King added that the rapid economic growth in the Kingdom during the years of development plans has been accompanied by providing many job opportunities. With these efforts, however, the labor market has witnessed some problems such as an increase in the rate of foreign workforce in comparison with the relative increase in unemployment of the national workforce. The eighth development plan aims at providing job opportunities for citizens through continual economic growth, new investments, education, development of capabilities and skills of the national workforce and probing of foreign employment.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques noted that the Cabinet's decision in Muharram, 1426H had laid the mechanism to confront the problem unemployment among citizens and the increase of the rate of foreign laborers. The decision stated that all concerned bodies, Saudi universities, and the media should support the labor ministry in measures taken to reduce issuance of visas, train Saudis and activate the role of the private sector. It also stressed that all government sectors and bodies and public establishments should directly and fully coordinate with the ministry of labor and the ministry of civil service with regard to the employment and the replacement of foreign laborers with the national workforce.

King Fahd said that the current budget included appropriations for the development in various producing and servicing sectors which demonstrated the strength of the Saudi economy and the wide horizons of the growth of its sectors at a high rate over the coming years. The budget coincided with the start of the 8th development plan aiming to achieve a great leap in services and facilities for citizens. The budget included SR 75.5 billion for new projects and programs in various regions. It also included a great increase in capitals of lending and financing funds established by the government to provide facilities and soft loans for citizens.

King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz indicated that orders have been issued to benefit from the extraordinary increase in the revenues, adding that SR 41 billion of revenue surplus was appropriated to implement additional servicing projects and that SR 30 billion of this sum was appropriated for an additional program to develop services.

The monarch pointed to the increase in the capitals of Real Estate Development Fund with a sum of SR 9 billion and Saudi Credit Bank with SR 3 billion.

The eighth development plan adopts an integrated set of coherent policies to secure what is needed for the achievement of its goals, he said.

On external issues, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's policies are based on working to achieve Saudi interests, bolster Saudi Arabia's positive presence in international arenas and highlight its constructive role whether in regional, Arab, Islamic or international arenas, he noted.

The continuing events in the Iraqi and Palestinian arenas whose victims have been innocent women, children and old men require an international stand to stem bloodshed and work to restore security, stability and peace to the region, he added.

The King expressed hope that people of Iraq will work to build a new, unified, stable and secure Iraq.

Saudi Arabia's support for the Palestinians seeks to help them establish their independent state with Al Quds as its capital, he said. He urged the Lebanese to overcome the crisis, maintain the unity, stability and integrity of Lebanon, resort to dialogue among various political forces and avoid causes of division.

On Arab relations, Saudi Arabia focuses on the issue of promoting joint Arab action, he said.

On oil, he said Saudi Arabia is keen to maintain stability of the world oil market, work to balance the interests of both producers and consumers and to boost international trade in accordance with the free market economics.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is tied to all peace-loving countries with relations based on mutual respect, productive participation in human issues and concerns, care for development issues and aid to victims of natural disasters, refugees and the needy, he said.

On regional cooperation, Saudi Arabia has worked to boost relations and cooperation with Gulf Cooperation Council countries and will continue its efforts to help realize the goals sought by the peoples of the GCC countries, he said.

The monarch thanked the outgoing members of the Shoura Council and wished the new ones the best of luck.

Shoura Council Chairman delivered a speech in which he hailed progress achieved by the council and highlighted support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz for it.

Following the speech delivered by King Fahd at an audience with the Chairman and members of the Shoura Council, the chairman commended modernization and reform started by the king and said the king is determined to continue this process especially the development of the council.

The chairman explained that King Fahd has been acting with moderation and wisdom.

Referring to the regrettable events of September and their negative effects on Muslims and Islam, he said Saudi Arabia managed to avoid the evils of this calamity, benefit from its lessons, tackle its causes and deal wisely and patiently with violence and terrorism that followed it.

He said the envy campaigns launched against the Kingdom have no relation with our religion or ethics, noting that Islam prohibits all illegal crimes and instead calls for humanity, fraternity, and unity and rejects disagreement, difference and dissidence.

He vowed that, accordingly, the Shoura Council is digging deep in the same trench of the government in the fight against the enemies of our religion and for the maintenance of Islamic principles and the bases of this state.

Ibn Homaid said the Council has opened channels of dialogue with the people in the Kingdom, governments and parliaments all over the world as well as media bodies aiming at explaining the principles of this nation, resulting in the accession of the Shoura Council to the International Parliaments Federation.

In its last four-year session, the Shoura Council has discussed 438 items covering different aspects of life in the Kingdom and issued 387 decisions pertaining to systems, regulations, agreements, treaties and annual reports, Ibn Homaid reported.

The chairman lauded the rhythm of performance and punctuality of the members of the outgoing session.

He lauded the increase in number of the new Shoura Council, noting that this meets three objectives: unity of view points, increase in the representation of the regions and upgrade of the rate of correctness of the consultative decisions.

Ibn Homaid also lauded the recent orders amending articles 17 and 23 to give the Shoura Council more powers and draw the ideal kind of relations between the Cabinet and the Shoura Council.

He paid tribute to the high-level cooperation between the Shoura Council and the Foreign Ministry, led by its minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.

The reception was attended by Prince Abdul Rahman Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General; Prince Talal Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Nawaf Ibn Abdul Aziz, Special Advisor to the King; Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, Minister of Interior; Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Riyadh Region; Prince Mamdouh Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Abdul-Ilah Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Sattam Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Governor of Riyadh Region, other princes, Kingdom's General Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdullah Al Al-Sheikh, who is also Chairman of Senior Ulema Commission and Religious Research and Ifta; Chief of Supreme Judiciary Council Sheikh Salih Al - Lihaidan, ministers, and senior civil and military officials.

All members of the Shoura Council shook hands with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.