Jeddah, SPA :

 The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet s session at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Monday afternoon.

 At the outset of the session, the King briefed the Cabinet on the results of his meetings with United States Secretary of State and United States delegation of Republican and Democratic parties, during which they discussed aspects of bilateral cooperation between the two friendly countries in various fields.

 The Minister of State, Cabinet s Member, and Acting Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Essam bin Saad bin Said said in a statement to Saudi Press Agency following the session that the Cabinet reviewed a report on the latest developments, commending the results of the joint meeting of Foreign Ministers of Gulf Cooperation Council for Arab States with United States Secretary of State John Kerry and British Minister of State for Middle East Affairs Tobias Ellwood, in the presence of the Envoy of United Nations Secretary General to Yemen Ismail Ould Al-Cheikh Ahmed and the participation of the Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council for Arab States Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, during which they concentrated on the importance of achieving a solution in Yemen based on the Gulf initiative, the outputs of the national dialogue and the United Nations Security Council resolution No. 2216, emphasized the importance of delivering humanitarian aid to Yemen, and demanded Houthis to lift the siege on the Yemeni cities and allow the delivery of assistance to the needy people in Yemen.

 The Cabinet renewed the Kingdom s strong condemnation and denunciation of the terrorist attacks that took place in Somali capital Mogadishu, the Afghan capital Kabul, and the city of Aden, offering the Kingdom s condolences to the families of the victims and Republics of Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

 The Cabinet expressed the Kingdom s condolences to the Republic of Italy, the President and the people on the victims of the earthquake that hit Italy, which resulted in deaths and damage, wishing a speedy recovery for the injured.

On local affairs, the Cabinet expressed its appreciation for the ongoing efforts being exerted by security authorities to detect and foil the criminal plots being committed by the Deviant Group seeking to destabilize the security of the homeland, its stability and incite sedition among its citizens, pointing in this regard to the ability of security authorities to foil an imminent execution of a terrorist operation aimed at worshipers at Mustafa Mosque in Qatif, and controlling a vehicle carried two men recruited by members of ISIS terrorist organization abroad to carry out a suicide attack to target a restaurant and a cafe in Tarot city.

 The Minister said that the Cabinet lauded the security men's efforts in fighting against drugs, which resulted in the past six months in arresting 1461 suspects for their involvement in smuggling, transferring, delivering, and promoting of drugs and psychotropic substances and trading through social networks, whereas the total of what has been seized by security operations was 24,685,282 narcotic amphetamine tablets, more than 19 tons of hashish and 14 Kilo grams of raw heroin in addition to quantities of heroin intended for the promotion, narcotic opium , weapons and cash money. The cabinet expressed the Kingdom's appreciation for constructive cooperation with counterparts in a number of brotherly and friendly countries, which resulted in proactive operations in foiling smuggling of more than 14 million amphetamine tablets to the Kingdom and seizing a number of networks that produce and smuggle these prohibitions and arresting a number of their elements, lauding the coordination and integration between Saudi Customs and competent security authorities in monitoring, following-up and controlling the attempts of drug smuggling into the Kingdom and the arrest of those involved in them and their recipients.

 Dr. Essam bin Saad bin Said reported that the cabinet was briefed on the topics on its agenda and decided the following:

 First:

 The Cabinet approved the memorandum of understanding for scientific and technical cooperation in the field of youth and sports, and the agreement for scientific and educational cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Tajikistan, signed in Riyadh on 23/03/1437 AH.

 Royal Decrees have been prepared for that.

- Second :

 The Cabinet authorized the President of Saudi Geological Survey - or his deputy - to discuss with the Chinese side a draft memorandum of understanding for geological scientific cooperation between Saudi Geological Survey of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Geological Survey Commission of the People's Republic of China, sign it, and submit the final version to complete statutory procedures.

 - Third :

 The Cabinet approved the memorandum of understanding between General Authority for Meteorology and Environment Protection of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea for cooperation in the fields of environmental protection, development and conservation, signed in the city of Seoul on 03/12/1436 AH. A royal decree has been prepared for that .

 - Fourth :

 The Cabinet approved the cooperation agreement between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of Hungary for the peaceful uses of atomic energy, signed in Riyadh on 06/01/1437 AH. A royal decree has been prepared for that.

Fifth :

 The Cabinet approved a number of appointments as the following:

 1 - Khalid bin Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Muqrin, Assistant Undersecretary for Economic Affairs at 14th rank in the Ministry of Economy and Planning.

 2 - Abdulrahman bin Ibrahim bin Mohammed Al-Rashed, Assistant Undersecretary for Planning Sectors at 14th rank in the Ministry of Economy and Planning.

 3 - Imad bin Mohammed bin Hamed Al-Ghamdi, Director General of Minister's Office at 14th rank in the Ministry of Economy and Planning.

 4 - Saleh bin Jalawi bin Abdulaziz Al-Masood, Economic Adviser at 14th rank in the Ministry of Economy and Planning.

 5 -Sami bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim bin Jadeed, Administrative Adviser at 14th rank in Council of Administrative Judiciary of Board of Grievances.

 6 - Yousef bin Abdullatif bin Saleh Al-Thunayan, Office's Director General at 14th rank at Supreme Administrative Court of Board of Grievances.

 The Cabinet was briefed on a number of topics on its agenda including the annual report of Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage for the previous fiscal year, and the results of the 2nd meeting of Energy Ministers of the Group of Twenty in Beijing and issued its directives in this regard.