Foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) met here yesterday to draw up the agenda for the consultative meeting of the GCC heads of state.
Software thefts in Saudi Arabia cost developers almost SR1.7 billion, according to a major study conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).
Saudi Arabia yesterday agreed to give an initial loan package worth nearly $ 2 billion to support Egypt’s economy. It has transferred $ 1 billion to Egypt’s central bank as an eight-year deposit, Faiza Abu El-Naga, the Egyptian minister for planning and international cooperation, said yesterday.
Key regional developments in the Arab world including strained relations between the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Iran will top the agenda of the consultative meeting of the GCC heads of state in the Saudi capital on May 14, GCC officials said after wide-ranging talks between Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and GCC Secretary-General Abdullateef Al-Zayani here yesterday.
The move to extend financial support is significant keeping in view the fact that major donors’ aid to developing countries have fallen significantly due to the global economic recession and regional developments in the Middle East. The ministers decided to make contributions on priority basis in an effort to make available approved financial aid to the two GCC member states — Bahrain and Oman as early as possible.
GCC finance ministers discussed the status of billions of dollars in development aid to be given to the neighboring countries like Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Yemen and Morocco.
The Egyptian delegation, headed by People’s Assembly Speaker Mohammed Al-Katatni and Shoura Council Speaker Ahmed Fahmy, held talks last night with Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal. Prince Saud welcomed the team and praised the contribution of the Egyptian community in the Kingdom in the country’s development. He said Egyptians living in the Kingdom were law-abiding and peaceful.
The Riyadh-based King Saud University (KSU) has added another milestone to its logbook of achievements by winning 19 prestigious medals and prizes in the “International Exhibition of Inventions in Switzerland.” The KSU bagged several gold medals for its innovations at the Geneva exhibition, an internationally acclaimed event for scientists and inventors, organized by the Swiss federal government and the World Intellectual Property Organization.
“Qattan, who was recalled by Saudi Arabia following unjustified protests and security threats to Saudi Embassy officials in Cairo during the last few weeks, has returned to the country,” confirmed Osama Nugali, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, in Riyadh yesterday.
Prince Saud called on the Gulf governments to move to “a phase of union with full integration of key affairs to give greater impetus and strength to the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).”