Jeddah-The Saudi Arabian Cabinet has approved a major plan to diversify the economy, during a session held at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Monday evening.

The National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020, which falls within “Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030”, was approved after reviewing the report submitted by Deputy Crown Prince, the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and the Chairman of the Council of Economic Affairs and Development, and after considering the Council of Economic Affairs and Development Resolution (1-38 /37/s) dated on 29/08/1437 AH.

The Cabinet, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, welcomed the approval of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs of the governance model for achieving Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which detailed the roles and responsibilities of relevant authorities in achieving the vision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2030 and the mechanism to remove obstacles hindering the implementation of the main vision goals.

On a different note, the Council of Ministers strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Jordan’s intelligence headquarters in Albaqa’a camp, which killed a number of people. The Cabinet stressed the solidarity of the Saudi Arabia with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the face of terrorism and those who stand behind it, and expressed condolences to Jordan’s King, government and people and to the families of the victims.

On the political level, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the leaders and heads of delegations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the Arab States for the efforts deployed during their 16th consultative meeting. King Salman welcomed the decisions reached during the meeting which he said would have a positive impact on strengthening integration of the countries of the GCC. He also praised the levels of development, prosperity and cooperation achieved in the Gulf region which would promote stability and security.

Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Adel bin Zaid Al-Toraifi said the Cabinet commended the wise decisions taken by the leaders of the GCC in their 16th consultative meeting to implement the vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques on strengthening the GCC joint action according to its scheduled timetable. The Cabinet stressed that the approval by the GCC leaders of the “Economic and Development Affairs Commission” and the basic law of the “Economic Judicial Commission”, as well as the holding of a joint periodic meeting of defense, interior and foreign ministers to coordinate policies among GCC countries would have great impact on the march towards cooperation, coordination and integration in the economic and development fields.

The King also briefed the Cabinet on the results of his meetings with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bangladesh and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Paolo Gentiloni.

At the outset of the Cabinet session, King Salman praised Allah Almighty for the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, and for bestowing the blessings, status and glory upon the Kingdom.

The Cabinet congratulated the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Crown Prince and the Deputy Crown Prince on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, stressing the King’s call on the Islamic nation to translate the objectives of this great month into sincere worship to Allah Almighty along with the keenness of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on consolidating unity of the Islamic nation.

The Cabinet said that the King’s directives to take advantage of the completed sites of the expansion of the Grand Holy Mosque come as an extension to his blessed efforts in serving Islam and Muslims, facilitating the performance of Umrah and prayers by the visitors of the House of Allah in the holy month of Ramadan and creating the appropriate atmosphere for them.

The Cabinet praised the marine mediums project, which was launched by the Ministry of Interior, as well as the design and production of an unmanned aircraft – a project to be implemented by Prince Sultan Advanced Technology Research Institute – stressing that these projects aimed at strengthening the Kingdom’s security sector.

On a different note, the Cabinet approved the statute of the Arab Court of Human Rights after reviewing the report submitted by the Minister of Justice, and after considering of the Shura Council resolution No. (54/28) dated on 19/06/1437 H. It also approved the organization of the National Center for Strategic Development Studies, which represents an intellectual advisory body entrusted with identifying the objectives, policies and applicable programs to ensure the achievement of the economic growth and providing the necessary studies and consultations for public and private sectors to address the development issues.

The Council of Ministers approved the minutes of the establishment of the Saudi-Jordanian Council of Coordination and the Saudi-UAE Council of Coordination. It also authorized the Minister of Education – or his deputy – to sign with the Mauritanian counterpart a draft memorandum of scientific and educational cooperation between the Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Housing – or his deputy – to sign with the Indian side a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the field of housing between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of the Republic of India.

The Cabinet approved a number of appointments and discussed general topics on its agenda, including the annual report of the Ministry of Labour and Social Development for the fiscal year (1435/1436 H.).