Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman holds talks with newly appointed Education Minister Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Issa and members of the Shoura Council Saleh bin Abdul Rahman Al-Shuhaib, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Dharrab and Ali bin Nasser Al-Ghafis at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Monday. Earlier, all four took the oath of office before the king. (SPA)

The Council of Ministers has welcomed GCC unity initiatives to bolster economic cooperation and help restore stability in the Middle East.

In a statement released after the weekly Cabinet meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman at Yamamah Palace on Monday, the ministers said the plans, outlined at the recently concluded GCC Supreme Council meeting in Riyadh, would realize the aspirations of the member nations’ people.

The Cabinet praised King Salman for his efforts to ensure “concrete results” that would enhance cooperation and interdependence, and upgrade the council’s international status, said Culture and Information Minister Adel Al-Toraifi in the statement carried by SPA.

Al-Toraifi said the ministers welcomed the plan that outlined a foreign policy that would allow the GCC states to avoid regional conflicts, help restore security and stability to neighboring countries, and complete building a common defensive and security system. Al-Toraifi also said that the ministers welcomed the resolutions at the recent UN climate conference in Paris, which called for policies to reduce emissions, and affirmed the Kingdom’s commitment to reduce energy consumption and harmful emissions.

However, the Cabinet emphasized that there should not be a condemnation of fossil fuels as the source of all the world’s problems. All energy sources should be considered complementary in the effort to attain sustainable development, he said.

The Cabinet also congratulated the 2,106 men and women who had been elected to places on the country’s municipal councils, with the participation of 542,702 voters, and thanked all government agencies and committees that participated in the electoral process.

The ministers said that Riyadh has been praised in the region and globally for hosting the Syrian opposition groups, in its bid to find a political solution to the crisis in that country in accordance with the Geneva resolutions.

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