King Abdullah to launch SR14 billion projects at the King Saud University

RIYADH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah will open and lay down the foundation stone of various projects at the King Saud University costing more than SR14 billion Sunday.

The projects include the City for Women Students (SR7.5 billion), housing facility for faculty staff (SR2.1 billion), the Medical City (SR1.8 billion), the first stage of the University Endowments (SR 1.15 billion), men's college buildings (SR1.1 billion), the National Center for Diabetes Research (SR150 million), the first stage of the Riyadh Valley for Technology (SR89 million) and an administrative block (SR150 million), said Higher Education Minster Khaled Al-Anqari in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency.

Source : Arab News

King urges joint projects for reintegration of society

By M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Arab News

RIYADH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has called for launching collaborative social projects with a focus on the reintegration of the underprivileged section of society, which has been lagging behind in terms of health, education and income generation.

“A real public-private partnership is an essential component of sustainable social development of the Kingdom,” said King Abdullah, in a speech read out by Minister of Social Affairs Yusuf Al-Othaimeen, here Sunday night.

King Abdullah said that the three-day conference organized by the Ministry of Social Affairs would be a platform for studying diverse issues confronting Saudi society today.

The king said that there was a growing evidence to believe that public and private sectors have accepted reasons for “working together as partners,” but there is still a need to ensure that both parties with stakes in social development complement each other’s efforts.

He expressed hope that “the participants at the conference will explore all possible ways and real mechanisms for social development.”

More than 400 local and international speakers, Saudi officials, diplomats and guests, including Awad Al-Raddadi, deputy minister for social affairs, are participating in the event.

An exhibition, organized on the sidelines of the conference, is featuring social projects promoted by private companies and public entities of the Kingdom.

Last year alone, the Ministry of Social Affairs reported that 35,160 beggars were detained in 2008 by the 12 anti-begging offices all over the Kingdom compared to 29,988 in 2007. According to a report, the number of Saudis accounted for 4,952 beggars while the number of non-Saudis reached 30,008 in 2008.

Also on beggary front, the Public Administration for Social Protection in Saudi Arabia, affiliated to the Ministry of Social Affairs, has established 13 committees across the Kingdom to follow up cases of domestic abuse, especially those involving women and children. Al-Othaimeen said that a number of social projects with government, nongovernment and business organizations are functioning, but the relationships among the three sectors have yet to mature.

Ideally, social development is a prime duty of the state. “However, in developing countries, the importance of business and NGO sectors, and limitations of the state in realizing the social ideals cannot be ignored,” noted the minister.

Find a just solution to Mideast conflict, Abdullah tells Mitchell

RIYADH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday held talks with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and called for intensive international efforts to find a just solution to the protracted Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

King Abdullah and Mitchell discussed “new developments in the Palestinian issue and the Middle East peace process and stressed the importance of intensifying global efforts to reach a just and comprehensive solution,” the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

Saudi Arabia insisted that any Middle East solution should ensure the establishment of an independent state for the Palestinians where they can live, the agency said. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal attended the talks at the king’s palace in Riyadh.

Mitchell arrived in the Saudi capital on Saturday on the last leg of a Middle East tour aimed at reviving peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel. The move comes a week after Barack Obama took charge as the new US president and in the wake of Israel’s deadly three-week assault on the Gaza Strip.

Mitchell, who helped broker peace in Northern Ireland in 1998, earlier visited Egypt, Jordan and Israel and held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before arriving in Riyadh.

King Abdullah, who is the main architect of the Arab peace initiative, held talks with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa before meeting Mitchell. During the meeting Abdullah and Moussa discussed “the Arab League’s efforts to tackle Arab issues, most importantly the Palestinian issue,” the SPA said.

The king’s talks with Mitchell and Moussa came as Olmert threatened “harsh and disproportionate” retaliation after Palestinians fired several rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel from Gaza yesterday.

A late afternoon mortar barrage on the village of Nahal Oz, next to the Gaza border fence, wounded three — two soldiers and a civilian, Israeli military and rescue services said. Earlier, a rocket landed near a kindergarten in a community near Gaza, police said.

Olmert addressed his Cabinet before the barrage on Nahal Oz. The government’s position, he said, is that “if there is shooting at residents of the south, there will be an Israeli response that will be harsh and disproportionate by its nature.” Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu said Olmert’s threat was an attempt by Israel to “find false pretexts to increase its aggression against the people” of Gaza.

Abbas lashed out at Hamas as officials from Palestinian groups gathered in Cairo yesterday amid hopes of bolstering the cease-fire in Gaza. At a press conference, Abbas accused Hamas of putting the lives and aspirations of Palestinians at risk. “They ... have taken risks with the blood of Palestinians, with their fate, and dreams and aspirations for an independent Palestinian state,” he charged.

He also accused Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since routing Fatah forces loyal to Abbas in 2007, of trying to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization and said he rejected dialogue with any group that did not recognize the PLO.

Khaled Meshaal, who heads Hamas’ politburo from exile in Damascus, said earlier in the week that the PLO had become obsolete and called for “a new, national authority.” Hamas is not a member of the Palestinian umbrella group, which Egypt founded in 1964 and which Fatah took over in 1968.

“Today they emerge upon us with a destructive project, which we have heard before ... and which has gone to the rubbish bin of history,” said Abbas. Palestinian officials were gathering in Cairo for talks starting today to bolster the cease-fire. Egypt has been mediating a truce between Hamas and Israel after they both announced cease-fires on Jan. 18, ending a 22-day war that killed more than 1,330 Palestinians.

Abbas is to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak today and a Hamas delegation from Damascus is set to join talks.

On a visit to Tehran, Meshaal yesterday ruled out any “permanent cease-fire” until Israel ends its crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Source : Arab News

I am nothing without my people: Abdullah

By P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News

JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday emphasized the strong relationship between the Saudi citizens and their leadership, saying: “I am nothing without my people.”

The king made this comment during an open and frank discussion with the chairman and members of the Shoura Council, the Saudi Press Agency said.

Saleh Bin-Humaid, chairman of the Shoura, noted the king’s remarkable role at the Arab economic summit in Kuwait last month when the king urged Arabs to open a new era of unity and solidarity and offered a donation of $1 billion for the reconstruction of Gaza. Abdullah told Shoura officials that what he did at the Kuwait summit was inspired by his “religious and national duty and Arab chivalry.” He said he has been carrying the issue of Arab reconciliation and unity in his mind for several years.

The king also approved yesterday a decision taken by the Higher Education Council to convert Effat College into a private university. “Effat College has fulfilled all conditions required for a private university,” said Higher Education Minister Khaled Al-Anqari.

Effat, the first college for women in the Kingdom, offers courses in architecture, electrical and computer engineering, business administration, computer science, information systems, English language and translation, psychology and early childhood education.

Abdullah also approved the establishment of a research and consultancy institute at King Faisal University; an e-learning center at Najran University; a deanship for university studies, and for academic quality and accreditation at the women’s section of Madinah Islamic University; and a deanship for information technology at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.

Meanwhile, Abdullah received the prize of the Humanitarian Service Society from Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of the Disabled Children’s Association (DCA), and Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Fahd, chairman of the prize committee. The king commended DCA’s services to handicapped Saudi children. He also received two children — Fahd bin Mansour Al-Hadour and Noura bint Abdul Aziz Al-Shaqri — who are cared for by the organization. The DCA currently runs six centers in different parts of the Kingdom, Prince Sultan said, adding that four centers are under construction. He thanked the king for accepting the society’s prize and praised his generous support for the organization.

Sultan referred to DCA’s pioneering role in conducting scientific research on disability and introducing an endowment system to finance its charitable projects.

In another development, Abdullah received Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi, Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) Gov. Ali Al-Ghafees, and representatives of private companies that have established partnership with TVTC to open nonprofit institutes.

King approves plan to create 204,056 jobs in education sector

By Sulaiman Al-Diyabi, Arab News

TAIF: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has approved plans to create 204,056 new jobs in the education sector, Minister of Civil Service Affairs Mohammed bin Ali Al-Fayez announced yesterday.

“The royal approval came after the Ministry of Civil Service Affairs presented a proposal to the king to improve the situation of teachers holding lower job levels in comparison to their qualifications,” the Saudi Press Agency said quoting the minister.

Al-Fayez thanked King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan for the decision. He also congratulated teachers who are to benefit from the new job offers. “We hope the royal gesture would encourage the teachers to do their jobs efficiently.”

Education Minister Abdullah Al-Obaid expressed his appreciation of the government for creating the jobs. “This will improve the condition of several teachers who were appointed at low job levels in the past 12 years,” he said. Khaled Al-Joaid, head of the media committee for teachers in the Kingdom, said the king’s decision would boost the morale of teachers and encourage them to work hard. “The royal gesture opens a new era in the Kingdom’s education sector.”

Teachers who are to benefit from the royal decree were extremely happy. Bandar Al-Harbi in Yanbu and Majed Al-Nasser in Qassim said the new decision had increased teachers’ confidence. They also praised the ministerial committee for making recommendations in favor of them. He said the decision would help them get the benefits they lost in the past 12 years.

Why Saudi is banking on long-term success

by Joanne Bladd
Any pretence that the middle east is immune to the world's credit crisis evaporated last week following Saudi Arabia's announcement that it expects to post a budget deficit of $17.3bn in 2009 - its first in more than five years.

Word from the Kingdom's ministry of finance that government expenditures were budgeted at $126.6bn for fiscal year 2009, while total revenues sit at $109.31bn, is hard proof - were it needed - the world's largest oil baron is feeling the chill of falling barrel prices.

For critics of the Kingdom's mega-projects, the news adds fuel to speculation that the liquidity freeze could restrict Saudi's sprawling growth plans.
Flush with oil revenue in recent years, the Kingdom has diligently smoothed the path for foreign investment through widespread expansion in infrastructure.

As with Dubai, the scale of the plans, anchored in the promise of foreign finance, were met with questions over their long-term viability. And to a degree, it seems the detractors were right.

With foreign investors now a rare breed, a string of Saudi's infrastructure plans have been left wide open to the slowdown. Adding salt to the wound are falling oil prices and a shift to a more conservative attitude among Saudi businesses, the impact of which is starting to show.

Progress on King Abdullah Economic City, the $27bn jewel in the crown of Saudi's 10x10 plan, has already fallen behind schedule while its developer, Emaar, searches for financing.

That the project, a key component in Saudi's bid for a diversified economy, is struggling to attract private investment, is a sign to many that Saudi's star is on the wane, and must raise serious questions over the viability of the remaining five economic cities.

But rumours of Saudi Arabia's slowdown are premature. Simply, its projects are too big for the government to allow them to fail. In contrast to the debt-to-asset ratio crippling certain Western governments, Saudi holds an estimated $433bn in net foreign assets, and a $157bn budget surplus - a late "liquidity gift" from the days of $147 a barrel prices.

It's hardly overleveraged. And the ministry of finance has been quick to state that large-scale projects "that ensure sustainable development... [and] more employment opportunities" will be first in the queue for supplementary funding.

The fast-tracking on Riyadh's King Abdullah Financial District and the announcement by Modon, the government's industrial development arm, of the launch of a further four industrial cities is evidence of this. Rather than fiddling while Rome burns, Riyadh has sent a clear message it has no qualms about dipping into its reserves to cushion the immature private sector, now the credit crunch has come calling.

Appropriately for the holiday season, Saudi's government is learning that charity begins at home. Whatever the cost, the domestic wheels will keep turning because Saudi Arabia has its eyes on a bigger prize - economic diversity.

Source : ArabianBusiness.com