Saudi King Salman chairs cabinet session in NEOM
The Minister of Media Awwad bin Saleh Al-Awwad said in a statement to Saudi Press Agency that the Cabinet reviewed a number of reports on various issues and latest developments at regional and international arenas and stressed that the failed terrorist attack on one of Saudi oil tankers in international waters, west of Hodeidah Seaport, by Iran-backed Houthi terrorist militias proves beyond any doubt the danger of these militias and those behind them on regional and international security, stressing that threats to crude oil tankers affect the freedom of international trade and maritime navigation in Strait of Bab Al-Mandab and the Red Sea, and the importance of handing over Hodeidah Governorate and its seaport to the Yemeni government to prevent its use as a military base from which terrorist attacks are launched against shipping routes and international trade.
The cabinet expressed the Kingdom's condemnation of suicide bombings that targeted a polling station in Pakistani city of Quetta, and a security convoy, west of the Afghan capital of Kabul and the shooting incident in the Canadian city of Toronto, offering condolences to the families of the victims and the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Canada, wishing a speedy recovery for the injured, reaffirming the Kingdom's solidarity and stand with those countries against various acts of violence, terrorism and extremism.
The cabinet thanked the King for his order to host 1,500 pilgrims of the martyrs of the Yemeni National Army and Sudanese forces participating in Determination Storm and Renewal of Hope Operations within the Program of Guests of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for Hajj this year, considering this order as an extension of his continuing noble works towards Muslims in general and the families of martyrs in particular, and as an appreciation for those who have sacrificed their lives to defend Yemen's security, unity and territorial integrity.
The Minister said that the cabinet praised the Executive Council of International Monetary Fund's commending the efforts of the Kingdom's government to implement its reform plans as part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, which came in implementation of the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the close follow-up by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Vice President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, and the Executive Council's praising of the progress of implementing the reform programs and their positive impact on the Kingdom's economic situation, and the Council's expectations of Gross Domestic Product growth of 1.9% in 2018, and its welcoming of the Kingdom's efforts to strengthen the fiscal situation that contributed to reducing the fiscal deficit.
Saudi King Salman has arrived, Sunday, for a holiday in NEOM, a still-undeveloped mega city that the crown prince has pledged to build from scratch in the kingdom's remote northwest at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in October 2017.
It will draw investments worth $500 billion from the kingdom's vast Public Investment Fund, as well as local and international investors
It is a planned 26,500 sq km (10,230-square-mile) economic zone to be constructed in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia close to the border region of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Al Arabiya
