“The Council of Ministers in its weekly meeting chaired by Crown Prince Sultan reviewed the situation in the Arab world and called for joint Arab action and support for organizations making concerted efforts to shelve marginal differences for the sake of the common Arab cause,” said Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency after the meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.
“Some Arab areas are exposed to attempts at exploitation of their cultural diversity for sectarian wrangling and regional disruption and some other areas have been surrounded by schemes for intervention and domination,” Madani said quoting a statement issued after the Cabinet meeting.
The crown prince briefed the council of the meetings and discussions pertaining to bilateral relations and regional and international issues he had had with several world leaders and their representatives.
Madani said the Cabinet approved amendments to the regulations governing the export of agricultural tools in order to end the shortage of tools in the local market.
Only Saudis will be allowed to export agricultural tools and machinery, whether imported or locally manufactured. The exporters will also have to supply a price list and other details of the exporting items to the Saudi Arabian Agricultural Bank.
The Cabinet also decided to join the International Institute for Unification of Private Laws.
The meeting authorized the minister of communications and information technology or his deputy to negotiate with the Tunisian authorities a memorandum of understanding for collaboration in telecommunications and information technology and postal service.
The council authorized the transport minister to negotiate with the Egyptian authorities for collaboration in the field of sea transport.
Other decisions included the extension of the terms of the board of directors of the Saudi Railways Organization for one more year, Madani said.