Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz today chaired the regular weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers, which discussed the postponement of the Arab Summit scheduled to be held in Tunis. Crown Prince Abdullah stressed that the Arab countries desperately need to look forward and not backward; and urged all appropriate conditions to be facilitated and all necessary preparations made for a Summit to be convened at the earliest opportunity, to enable them to consult with each other.

Crown Prince Abdullah then briefed the Cabinet on contacts he had had with leaders and senior officials of brotherly and friendly countries, and on the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel's incessant aggressive practices against the Palestinian people, and the consequences of these practices on the explosive situation in the Middle East. Once again calling on the international community to intervene to end Israel's inhuman practices and force it to comply with international resolutions, he observed that Israel has been encouraged to persist in its aggressive actions, and to seek the abortion of any endeavors to achieve peace in the region, by reason of the lack of a firm and strict international stance against it.
Reviewed girls’ public education in the Kingdom, the Cabinet took note of the fact that the number of female Saudi students now exceeds 2.3 million, and of the Crown Prince’s directive that the Girls’ College in Riyadh be transformed into a university within the framework of the government’s support for the provision of education to all citizens.
Turning to other domestic issues, the Cabinet passed a number of resolutions, including authorization for the Minister of Interior or his deputy to sign an agreement with the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in the field of extradition of accused and convicted individuals; authorization for the Minister of Foreign Affairs or his deputy to sign a general agreement on cooperation with the government of the Republic of Albania in the areas of commerce, investment, technology, culture, sports and youth; authorization for the Minister of Finance or his deputy to sign an agreement on cooperation in the field of customs with the government of the Republic of Yemen; and endorsement of the Kingdom’s accession to the World Health Organization's anti-smoking agreement.

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