Ain-Al-Yaqeen - January 13, 2006

		January 13, 2006

THE CUSTODIAN OF THE TWO HOLY MOSQUES REVIEWS WITH MUBARAK THE PALESTINIAN ISSUE, IRAQ AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS.
CROWN PRINCE SULTAN IBN ABDUL AZIZ CHAIRS THE FIRST MEETING OF THE GENERAL AUTHORITY OF CIVIL AVIATION.
PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL TAKES PART IN A CONFERENCE HELD IN LONDON ON TRANSNATIONAL TERRORISM.
ARAB FOREIGN MINISTERS REVIEW WAYS OF COOPERATION IN DIFFERENT AREAS INCLUDING SECURITY, PEACE AND SOVEREIGNTY.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held a meeting at the VIP lounge at King Abdul Aziz International airport.

During the meeting, they discussed the latest developments at the Arab arena, led by the Palestinian issue and the situation in Iraq.

Also, they reviewed the developments at the Islamic and International arenas and presented the positions of their respective countries towards them in addition to aspects of cooperation between the two countries, and means of enhancing them in all fields.

On the Saudi side, the meeting was attended by Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister, Defense and Aviation Minister, and Inspector General; Prince Mit'eb Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs; Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Interior; Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Prince Abdul-Ilah Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Abdul Majeed Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Makkah Region; Prince Miqren Ibn Abdul Aziz, Chief of General Intelligence; Prince Bandar Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Secretary General of the National Security Council; Prince Turki Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Ibn Abdul Aziz Ibn Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz, Minister of State, Member of the Cabinet and Chief of the Court of the Cabinet's Presidency.

On the Egyptian side, the meeting was attended by Ahmed Abu-Al-Ghait, the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Anas El-Feqi, Minister of Information; Omer Suleiman, Minister at the Republican Presidency; Dr. Zakaria Azmi, Chief of Presidential Protocol and Egypt's Ambassador to the Kingdom Mohammed Abulahameed Qasim.

Then King Abdullah gave a lunch party in honor of President Mubarak and accompanying delegation.

The banquet was attended by Crown Prince Sultan and princes.

During his visit to Saudi Arabia, Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah discussed Egyptian-Saudi ties, ME peace-making, the Palestinian legislative elections and the situation in Iraq, Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad said.

Awwad said that Mubarak's visit to the kingdom was aimed at consulting with Saudi officials on Arab developments, especially the Syrian-Lebanese file.

He said that the two leaders expressed their keenness on maintaining the stability and security of both Lebanon and Syria.

The two leaders also discussed developments in the Palestinian territories and the Middle East peace process, the spokesman added.

He noted that discussions between Mubarak and King Abdullah also focused on the situation in Iraq following the country's legislative elections.

Awwad said that the two leaders shared identical views on the importance of revealing facts on the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions.

He added that the talks also dealt with the Egyptian-Saudi cooperation in various fields.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud received a message from President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan.

The message was handed over to the Monarch during his audience here today with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, the Minister of Information and Culture of the Untied Arab Emirates, and the accompanying delegation.

Sheikh Abdullah also conveyed to the Monarch the greetings of UAE's president. In turn, the king sent his greetings to the president.

The audience was attended by the Minister of Culture and Information Iyad Ibn Amin Madani and UAE Ambassador to the Kingdom Saeed Ibn Hamdan Al-Nagbi.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz arrived in Jeddah coming from Riyadh.

At King Ibn Abdul Aziz International airport, he was received by Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General; Prince Faisal Ibn Turki Ibn Abdullah Al Saud; Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Interior; Prince Faisal Ibn Turki Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud; Prince Bandar Ibn Khalid Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Abdullah Ibn Turki Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud; Prince Abdullah Ibn Khalid Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Mamdouh Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Ahmed Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Minister of Interior; Prince Abdul Majeed Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Makkah Region; Prince Miqren Ibn Abdul Aziz, Chief of General Intelligence; other princes, ministers, senior military and civil officials and a group of citizens.

King Abdullah was accompanied by Prince Mit'eb Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs; Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Prince Abdul-Ilah Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Faisal Ibn Abdullah Ibn Mohammed Al Saud, Assistant Chief of General Intelligence; Prince Bandar Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz , Secretary General of the National Security Council; Prince Turki Ibn Abdullah Ibn Mohammed Al Saud, Advisor to the king; Prince Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, Advisor to the king; Prince Mansour Ibn Nassir Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Dr. Bandar Ibn Salman Ibn Mohammed Al Saud, Advisor to the king; Prince Abdul Aziz Ibn Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz, Minister of State, Member of the Cabinet and Chief of the Court of the Cabinet's Presidency; Prince Turki Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Majed Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz; Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, the Minister of Finance; Iyad Ibn Ameen Madani, the Minister of Culture and Information; and senior protocol officials.

Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister, Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, also arrived in Jeddah coming from Riyadh.

At King Ibn Abdul Aziz International airport, he was received by Prince Mamdouh Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Ahmed Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Interior Minister; Prince Abdul Majeed Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Makkah Region; Prince Fahd Ibn Abdullah Ibn Mohammed Al Saud, Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Civil Aviation Affairs; Prince Turki Ibn Nassir Ibn Abdul Aziz, General President for Meteorology and Protection of Environment; Prince Khalid Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs; Prince Turki Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Assistant Minister of Culture and Information; senior military officers and a number of officials.

Crown Prince Sultan was accompanied by a number of princes.

Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister, Defense and Aviation Minister, and Inspector General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Airlines (SAUDIA) patronized the dedication ceremony of its first of its new generation of Emperor 170 aircraft as well as SAUDIA's party to mark the Saudi national carrier's 60 years anniversary.

He was received at the venue by Prince Mishaal Obn Majed Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Jeddah Province, Dr. Khalid Ibn Bakr, Director General of SAUDIA, and a number of officials.

Addressing the gathering, Dr. Bakr said the new small-size aero planes were designed to boost the operational system of the company through providing services for rural towns, particularly in the north and south of the Kingdom.

According to the purchase contract, SAUDIA will have the Middle East's largest airplane maintenance center, he said.

Bakr said the company was able to achieve its highest levels of performance since its establishment, citing the lifting of one million passengers annually and more that one million pilgrims from 86 international stations in addition to different points in the Kingdom, and the lift of about two million Umrah performers from all over the world.

SAUDIA scored its first highest revenue worth more than SR14.6 billion and started to hit its first profit in history since 2002, he said, adding that for the first time in its history SAUDIA was able to self-finance its new planes purchase deal.

Then Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz received the operational safety certificate presented to him by Majdi Sabri, Deputy Chairman of IATA, and a memorial shield presented by SAUDIA in honor of the crown prince to mark the 60 annual anniversary.

Responding to media questions, Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz declared that privatization process of SAUDIA is going on in a scientific and correct way that would not disturb the company's current movement and is going to end within years.

He said the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz is personally interested in the privatization of the company.

Crown Prince Sultan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of defense and aviation, emphasized the private sector's future role in developing the Kingdom's airports, which currently handle 33 million passengers annually.

Prince Sultan made this comment while presiding over the first meeting of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), which has been made an independent body and will operate on a commercial basis.

"The future phase demands more efforts from the sincere children of this country to strengthen this vital sector," Crown Prince Sultan said, urging businessmen to make use of the flexibility offered by the new Civil Aviation Law.

He said the Kingdom's competitive edge and available resources must be invested to develop the sector to make it a real motivator of the national economy.

Prince Sultan spoke about the tremendous progress achieved by the Kingdom's civil aviation sector. "There are now 27 domestic and international airports in the Kingdom, which serve more than 33 million passengers annually," he said.

He said the Presidency of Civil Aviation was transformed into an independent body after conducting detailed studies in order to meet growing requirements of the industry.

"Commercial operation will give General Authority for Civil Aviation greater flexibility in improving its operation efficiency in tune with modern developments in order to confront international competition and develop its resources to achieve self-dependence," he said.

Prince Sultan said appointment of private sector representatives in the authority's board was aimed at improving services and increasing private-sector role.

Abdullah Al-Ruhaimy, president of GACA, underlined the dynamic role of the civil aviation sector in boosting the economy.

"It offers distinct investment opportunities, which are not available in many other sectors," he told the board meeting.

Ruhaimy said the board meeting discussed issues such as the strategy of air transportation, expansion of King Abdul Aziz International Airport, the organizational structure of GACA, licensing of airlines, commercial operation of King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and prospects of reducing tariffs on airlines.

Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Riyadh region, received Prince Abdul Aziz Ibn Mohammed Al Meqrin, the mayor of Riyadh, and members of the municipality.

Prince Salman exchanged views with them on issues of interest.

Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Riyadh region, received the chairman and members of board of directors of Al-Riyadh Sports Club on the occasion of re-forming the club's board of directors.

They exchanged views on issues of mutual interest.

On the other hand Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz patonized the signing ceremony of Riyadh circular road.

The length of the road networks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia exceeded in the fiscal year 1424-1425 more than 171,000 kilometer, including more than 51000 of asphalted roads.

The most important roads include Makkah-Madinah road, 421 kilometer, Jeddah-Makkah road, 60 kilometer, Riyadh-Sudeir road, 317 kilometer, Riyadh-Dammam road, 383 kilometer, and Qassim-Madinah-Yanbu-Rabigh-Thole road, 810 kilometer.

The projects of these roads were implemented at a total cost of SR 5350 million.

Work is currently underway to implement 325 road projects at a total cost of more than SR14.11 billion.

The length of the new roads amounts to more than 13,000 kilometer. The major roads include Riyadh-Khamis-Misheit road, 913 kilometer, Qassim -Hail road, 258 kilometer, Hail-Joaf road, 370 kilometer, and Rafha-Tureif road, 550 kilometer.

The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz, when he was the Crown Prince, laid the foundation stone for the project of Taif-Baha road.

The project of the 200-kilometer road will be implemented at a total cost of SR 600 million.

The new budget includes the implementation of new road projects with a length of more than 8000 kilometer at a cost of about SR 7 billion.

The Saudi Arabian Public Transport Company (SAPTCO), established in 1979, has now a fleet of more than 3095 buses of various sizes.

Since the first development plan in 1390-1391 up to 1424-1425 more than SR 16 billion were spent in the maintenance of the roads. King Fahd causeway, which links the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with Bahrain, stands as a witness for the great projects implemented in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Late King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz inaugurated the causeway on Nov 25, 1987.

In London Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and the Saudi Ambassador to the UK, Prince Muhammad Ibn Nawaf, will address the conference, called "Transnational Terrorism A Global Approach", which will be hosted by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) at Whitehall on 16-17 January.

How the international community can confront and tackle the threat of global terrorism is to be the focus of a major conference in London in January, sponsored by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.

The first day will be dedicated to exploring current national strategies both theoretical and practical in the fight against terrorism, from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, and how such strategies regionally differ. The second day will develop a common thematic approach to cut across regional differences on the politics and origins of terrorism, and on future trends. Other topics to be discussed will be religious extremism, reform, and good governance. What can be learned from previous terrorist attacks will also be explored. The Duke of Kent will open and preside over the sessions.

The conference is the second event in the RUSI Transnational Terrorism Project, which was launched in May 2005. Other speakers will include members of the military, senior British and Saudi civil servants, and academics whose work has influenced national policies in the fight against terrorism.

In Cairo Arab Foreign Ministers held a consultative meeting under the chairmanship of the Secretary General of the Arab League Amre Moussa to discuss the agenda of the extraordinary meeting of the Arab Foreign Ministers.

Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, led his country's delegation to the meeting.

The ministers were scheduled to hold their extraordinary meeting at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo under the chairmanship of Jordan's Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Al-Khateeb.

The Extraordinary Meeting of the Arab League's Ministerial Council started under the chairmanship of Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdul Ilah Al-Khateeb.

Arab League Secretary General Amre Mousa attended the meeting, which was held at the level of foreign ministers.

The delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz.

The council is discussed in two closed-door sessions, five articles as regards the specification of "substantive and procedural" issues that need to be selected by voting, decisions executing commitment, the financial situation of the League's General Secretariat, Secretary General's report pertaining to appointment of Assistant Secretary Generals in 2006 in addition to the latest developments in Iraq and other Arab regions.

The Arab League presented to the ministers a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) containing proposals of 19 Arab countries about their views on the substantive and procedural issues.

Arab Foreign Ministers Council concluded their extraordinary session.

During the meeting, the ministers agreed on the standards of settling what they termed as objective or structural matters, stating that voting on such matters will be according to agreement of view points or by the two-thirds majority of attending members.

Peace-keeping, Arab national security, sovereignty of member countries, their integrity and security strategies, means of confronting aggression against any member country, means of settling Arab disputes, vital Arab policies strategies, Arab boycott were classified as objective matters, according to the meeting's minutes.

The same classification included the amendment of the charter or adding annexes, setting up new institutions within the Arab League, accepting new membership, dismissing or suspending a member state, withdrawal from the AL, and nominating the AL's Secretary General and his aides.

If the attendants differ whether a subject of discussion is objective or procedural, voting will be held on two-thirds of the present members bases. If the matter discussed was classified as procedural, it receives the same treatment.

The meeting was briefed by the AL's Secretary General on the efforts exerted by the Arab league to implement the Arab initiative on achieving reconciliation in Iraq.

To this effect, Dr. Mustafa Othman Ismael, Advisor to Sudan's president, was appointed Arab League's envoy to prepare for the Iraq's Reconciliation Expanded Conference.

Following a briefing submitted by the Secretary General on the Syrian Lebanese file, the meeting decided to postpone discussion on the issue because of the absence of both countries foreign ministers.

On the recent political flare up between Sudan and Chad, the meeting decided to raise the matter with the African Union to calm down the situation between the two African counties. The meeting urged the member states to settle their quotas in the Arab League's budget.

Nooruddin Hashad from Tunisia and Abdul Rahman Al Sihaibani from Saudi Arabia were re-appointed as Secretary General's deputy and assistant for two more years respectively.

The Secretary General was instructed to coordinate with the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to take necessary measures to contact the Danish government on a Danish newspaper recent report defaming Islam and Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him).