Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz chaired the weekly meeting of Council of Ministers this afternoon at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah

At the outset of the session, the King Salman was reassured on various preparations and readiness of government and private sectors and agencies concerning with the services of pilgrims, stressing the importance of coordinating efforts among the various bodies to provide the best services to pilgrims and facilitate all ways to perform their Hajj rituals easily and comfortably.  The Cabinet expressed their thanks and appreciation to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Naif, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Chairman of Supreme Hajj Committee for what has been exerted in efforts to upgrade the level of services provided to pilgrims.

King Salman briefed the Cabinet on the results of his meeting with President of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, appreciating his thanks to the Kingdom for assisting the Organization s program to help countries that are unable to apply international rules and recommendations concerning aviation safety and relevant programs.

The Cabinet commended the results of visits of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense to Pakistan, China and Japan.

The Cabinet confirmed that the Deputy Crown Prince's talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Deputy Premier Zhang Gaoli and other senior Chinese officials during his visit will strengthen the existing partnership between the Kingdom and China.

The Cabinet also stressed that his talks with the Emperor and the Crown Prince of Japan as well as the Japanese Premier and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of defense between the Defense Ministries of the two countries and the exchange of seven memoranda of understanding between the two countries reflect the strong relations and strengthen the bonds of common cooperation as the best interest of both friendly countries and peoples, expressing its full appreciation for what has been expressed by the two friendly countries of welcome of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and their desire to explore areas of partnership relating to this vision.

The Cabinet renewed the Kingdom's condemnation of the attack targeted the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the capital of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and expressed the Kingdom's solidarity and stand by both the People's Republics of China and Kyrgyzstan, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.