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

The King began by briefing the Cabinet on the contents of the telephone conversation he had with President Mohammed Bukhari of Nigeria; the results of his meetings and talks with President Omar Hasan Al-Bashier of Sudan; President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan; Gabriela Michetti, Vice President of Argentina; Anas al-Abdah, General Coordinator of the Negotiations Higher Commission for the Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces; Christine Lagarde, Director General of the IMF; Jack Lew, United States Secretary of Treasury; heads of Auditing and Accountancy bureaus of the GCC member states; Federica Mogherini, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; Frans Timmermans, First Vice President of the European Commission, including reviews of the bilateral relations of the Kingdom with each of them and discussions of the latest developments at the regional and international arenas.

The Cabinet lauded the contents of the speech delivered by the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques at a party held by the Saudi Standards and Quality Authority in honor of businesses which have won King Abdulaziz Prize for Quality in its third session under the patronage of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques. In his speech, the monarch confirmed the historic change witnessed by the Kingdom through its vision 2030, including programs and initiatives for national transformation to build a strong and firm economy that depend on enhancing its competitiveness with world economies and confirmed that the Kingdom is, thanks to God Almighty, and the efforts of its citizens, able to face this challenge and produce a new experiment based on quality and excellence.

The Cabinet condemned the launching by Houthi militias of a ballistic missile from Saada Province in Yemen towards Makkah region, which was intercepted and destroyed by the Saudi Air Defense Forces before reaching its target without causing any human or material harms.  The Cabinet called the attack a flagrant breach of Muslims feelings and most prestigious sanctities: the Grand Mosque and House of God, noting wide-range and high waves of condemnation orchestrated by Islamic, Arab, and friendly Muslim countries and organizations, commissions and establishments, Ifta complexes, Islamic Ulema Councils and ordinary Muslim peoples in which they expressed rejection of such dangerous and frustrating violation and voiced support for the Kingdom in its defense of the lands of the two holy mosques.  The Cabinet also expressed appreciation of the efforts being exerted by the brave men in different military sectors to preserve and keep order and security and protect the Kingdom's borders and sanctities.

The Cabinet welcomed the election of the Kingdom for the fourth time in a row as member of the UN’s Human Rights Council for the term 2017 - 2019.

The Cabinet reiterated the Kingdom's declaration before the Second Committee during its 71st session on Article 65 of the United Nations that the Palestinian cause comes at the top of its priorities, hoping that the struggle be ended and a peace agreement that offers security and natural relations among all countries of the region be concluded. The Cabinet also reiterated the Kingdom's confirmation on the right of the Palestinian people in their occupied land since 1967, including Al-Quds (Jerusalem), and compel Israel to stop all kinds of violations of the international laws and charters and the necessity of its respect and abiding by the UN relevant resolutions.

The Cabinet lauded the Kingdom's offer before the Second Committee in its 71st session in the UN on agricultural development, food security and nutrition, considering the initiative of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques on Saudi agricultural investment abroad which conforms with the orientation of the United Nations, and the specialized international agencies to assist developing countries invest locally and develop their infrastructures and achieve food security for their peoples.

The Cabinet condemned and denounced the terror attack which took place at the police academy in Quetta, Pakistan, as well as the bombing of a hotel in Mandera, Kenyan.

The Cabinet lauded the participation of the Saudi security forces in the first joint Arabian Gulf security drill of the GCC member countries, hosted by Bahrain as well as the start of the 4th Saudi International Nanotechnology Conference 2016 (SINC 2016), organized by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in collaboration with King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals.

The Cabinet praised the efforts exerted by the security authorities in combating terrorist activities targeting the Kingdom's security and potentials, chasing the suspects and culprits, and apprehending the involved, citing the dismantling of two Daesh-linked (ISIS) terror cells targeting security personnel and Al-Joharah stadium in Jeddah.  The Cabinet reiterated the Kingdom's security authorities’ determination to proceed with their efforts to stage pre-emptive operations to cut off the hands of evil before carrying out the plots of their instructors to spread corruption, terrify the innocents, destabilize the order and security of the nation and harm its capabilities and potentials.