NEOM — The Cabinet, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman virtually on Tuesday, highlighted the King’s speech before the 76th UN general assembly in New York recently that featured the Kingdom’s vision regarding the current issues and challenges at the world level, and implications that embodied the Kingdom’s key humanitarian, development and economic role at the regional and international levels.

The speech also emphasized Kingdom’s foreign policy that pays utmost importance to consolidating security and stability, supporting dialogue and peaceful solutions, and creating the right conditions conducive to achieving development and meeting peoples' aspirations for a better tomorrow in the Middle East and around the world.

At the outset of the session, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed thanks to leaders of friendly countries for their sincere feelings and wishes on the occasion of Saudi Arabia’s 91st National Day, wishing them permanent good health and happiness and their governments and peoples steady progress and prosperity.

The Cabinet was briefed on the recent talks and meetings that took place between Saudi Arabia and a number of countries with the aim of developing relations and advancing bilateral and multilateral cooperation to broader horizons.

In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Dr. Issam Bin Saad Bin Saeed, minister of the state, member of the Cabinet and on behalf of acting minister of media, said that the Cabinet addressed a number of topics at the local and global levels.

The Cabinet reiterated that the Kingdom reserves the legitimate right to defend itself against the ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones and boats attacks launched by terrorist Houthi militia on a daily basis to target civilian objects and threaten international navigation and global energy supplies.

The Cabinet renewed the Kingdom's solidarity with the Republic of Sudan in everything that supports its security, stability and prosperity for the government and Sudanese people. The Cabinet also reiterated the Kingdom’s condemnation of the failed coup attempt that took place against the legitimate state institutions in Sudan.

The Cabinet touched upon Saudi Arabia’s support for the joint international efforts to facilitate access to COVID-19 vaccines in compliance with intellectual property rights and relevant international treaties, as this comes in light of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's efforts to combat the Coronavirus pandemic and to create conditions that make vaccines available for all peoples.

The Cabinet issued the following decisions:

• The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Investment — or his representative — to discuss and sign with the Senegalese side a draft memorandum of understanding between Saudi Arabia and Senegal for cooperation in the field of direct investment promotion.

• The Cabinet authorized the Governor of the Saudi Central Bank — or his representative — to discuss and sign the draft statute for the Union of the Arab Commissions for Supervision and Control of Insurance Business.

• The Cabinet licensed the National Bank of Egypt to open a branch in Saudi Arabia. The Cabinet authorized the Minister of Finance to decide on any subsequent request to open other branches of the bank in Saudi Arabia.

• The Cabinet approved an organization of the Digital Content Council and cancelled the National Committee for the Legalization of Ethical Content for Information Technology among other decisions. — SG/SPA