Saudi Govt Reviews Regional, Int’l Developments

King Salman chairs the cabinet meeting in Jeddah. (SPA)
King Salman chairs the cabinet meeting in Jeddah. (SPA)
TT

Saudi Govt Reviews Regional, Int’l Developments

King Salman chairs the cabinet meeting in Jeddah. (SPA)
King Salman chairs the cabinet meeting in Jeddah. (SPA)

The Saudi government reviewed on Tuesday the latest regional and international developments.

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz chaired the meeting that was held at the al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.

The ministers reviewed the Saudi Foreign Ministry’s policy work in recent days.

They were briefed on the message received by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, from the president of Sri Lanka.

The message tackled bilateral relations between their countries and ways of bolstering them on various levels.

The cabinet tackled the state’s efforts in serving the visitors of the two holy mosques and its efforts in completing mega projects in the holy city of Makkah and Madinah to facilitate holy pilgrimages.

The ministers hailed in this regard Crown Prince Mohammed’s launch of the infrastructure works and unveiling of the master plan for the Rua Al Madinah Project in the area east of the Prophet’s Mosque.

The project is being developed and implemented by Rua Al Madinah Holding Company, a Public Investment Fund (PIF) company that specializes in development, operation, and real estate investment in Madinah.

A part of PIF’s efforts to develop and enable promising sectors, the project is in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.

The Rua Al Madinah Project will raise the capacity to facilitate hosting 30 million Umrah pilgrims by 2030.

The project will be implemented to the highest international standards in an indication of the continuous support from the Kingdom’s leadership to Madinah to consolidate its position as a modern Islamic and cultural destination.



Qatar PM Hopes Palestinian Authority Will Return to Gaza When War Ends

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2025. (AFP)
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2025. (AFP)
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Qatar PM Hopes Palestinian Authority Will Return to Gaza When War Ends

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2025. (AFP)
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2025. (AFP)

Qatar's Prime Minister said in Davos on Tuesday he hoped the Palestinian Authority would return to play a governing role in Gaza once the war with Israel comes to an end.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Switzerland, two days after the ceasefire Qatar helped broker came into effect in Gaza, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani cautioned that Gazans -- and not any other country -- should dictate the way the enclave will be governed.

"We hope to see the PA back in Gaza. We hope to see a government that will really address the issues of the people over there. And there is a long way to go with Gaza and the destruction," he said.

How Gaza will be governed after the war was not directly addressed in the deal between Israel and Hamas movement that led to an immediate ceasefire and hostage releases after nearly 15 months of talks mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US.

Israel has rejected any governing role for Hamas, which ran Gaza before the war, but it has been almost equally opposed to rule by the Palestinian Authority, the body set up under the Oslo interim peace accords three decades ago that has limited governing power in the West Bank.

The PA, dominated by the Fatah faction created by former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, faces opposition from rival faction Hamas, which drove the PA out of Gaza in 2007 after a brief war.