RIYADH- In a major boost to the Kingdom’s privatization plan, Saudi Arabian Airlines yesterday kicked off the long-awaited bidding process for a stake of up to 49 percent of its catering division. The catering division is one of Saudi’s five sectors that the company plans to privatize by the end of 2007 before floating a stake in its core transport business.
ISTANBUL, 11 August 2006 — Saudi Arabia and Turkey set out a new vision of economic relations yesterday during a business meeting here jointly chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul attended the meeting. King Abdullah and Erdogan pledged to remove all barriers and extend all support to businessmen of the two countries to boost trade and increase investment links.
ANKARA, 10 August 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah said yesterday that Israeli military aggression in Lebanon posed a big danger to world peace and urged world countries to adopt balanced and prudent policies, free of adventure, to reinforce global peace and stability. The king made the call during his talks Tuesday night with senior Turkish officials. “We work as you do for finding a fair solution for the Palestinian problem and to make the Middle East free from atomic weapons,” said King Abdullah, while referring to the need to strengthen the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and delegate this pan-Islamic body more powers.
ANKARA, 9 August 2006 — The volatile situation in the Middle East caused by Israel’s massive military campaign against Lebanon and Palestine figured prominently in talks between Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Turkish President Ahmed Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan here yesterday. King Abdullah and President Sezer witnessed the signing of six landmark agreements to promote cooperation in political, economic, investment, transport and other areas. The signing ceremony took place at the Presidential Palace.