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King Salman: Being the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is Great Honor | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Receives GCC Ministers Responsible for Tourism. SPA


Riyadh- The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz has welcomed the GCC countries’ tourism ministers, during a meeting held in Riyadh.

King Salman received on Wednesday at Al-Yamamah palace Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, President of Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and ministers responsible for tourism in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) including Sheikh Salman Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs of Kuwait; Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, Minister of Economy and Commerce of Qatar; Minister of Tourism of Sultanate of Oman Ahmed bin Nasser Al-Mahrezi; Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of the Kingdom of Bahrain Zayed bin Rashid Al-Zayani; GCC Secretary General Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, and Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed Khamis AlMuhairi.

For their part, the Ministers conveyed to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques the greetings and appreciation of the GCC leaders.

King Salman highlighted the importance of preserving and documenting the history of Mecca, saying that the Kingdom holds a huge responsibility because it is the country of the Two Holy Mosques from where the Prophet message appeared. The king stressed that being the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques is a great honor and a huge responsibility.

Furthermore, King Salman directed King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid (KSrelief) to coordinate with the Arab coalition, the legitimate Yemeni government and U.N. organizations to facilitate the transfer of the injured that need to be treated abroad following the Great Hall incident in Sana’a on Saturday evening.

This directive is just an extension of the center’s humanitarian initiatives undertaken by the Kingdom to help the Yemeni people.

Moreover, Prince Sultan bin Salman delivered the opening speech in the third meeting of the GCC ministers of tourism. Prince Sultan said that the tourism sector no longer means entertainment only, but involves other aspects, like economy, social development and security, and this requires that GCC states invest significantly and pool together resources to achieve the aspired economic returns, and create jobs for young people.

The meeting approved a comprehensive vision of joint tourism work in the GCC. The vision aims at investing economic, social, environmental and cultural factors to make the Gulf countries a major tourism destination by 2030.