Saudi Arabia sets up Family Affairs Council

The Council of Ministers on Monday approved setting up of the Family Affairs Council with the objective of enhancing the position and role of family in the advancement of society.

Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, chaired the weekly session of the Cabinet at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.

Minister of Culture and Information Adel Al-Turaifi said that Minister of Labor and Social Development will be the chairman of the Riyadh-based Council.

“The Council will be tasked to take care of the family affairs in the Kingdom and safeguard a strong family, holding fast to the religious and moral values in raising their children and other matters in an exemplary way,” the minister said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency.

Earlier, the Cabinet denounced the recent horrendous terror attacks that struck Afghan capital Kabul and armed attack in the German city of Munich, which claimed the lives of several innocent people and injury to several others.

The council offered its condolence and sympathy to Afghanistan and Germany on the terror victims, wishing the injured speedy recovery. It also called for concerted global efforts to fight the scourge of terror, which is unequivocally rejected by all divine religions and international norms.

Al-Turaifi said the Cabinet reviewed the outcome of the 2nd meeting of the International Coalition for Fighting Daesh held recently in the United States in which the Kingdom’s delegation was headed by Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense. The meeting discussed ways to confront the spread of Daesh (the so called IS) outside Iraq and Syria. While welcoming the statement of the 25th session of the joint ministerial council of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union held in Brussels, the Cabinet underscored the importance of continuing enhancing relations between the two sides especially in the wake of the regional challenges.

The minister said the Cabinet was briefed on the report of King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Work pertaining to the humanitarian assistance offered to the injured Yemenis as well as their companions and relatives within the Kingdom and outside the Kingdom. “The report has really reflected the Kingdom’s pioneering relief and humanitarian status in general and for Yemen and its people in particular as per the instructions of the divine religion of Islam which orders for relieving the needy as well as the instructions of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, and Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman,” the Cabinet said while noting that Saudi Arabia enjoys the top position among the countries that extend relief and humanitarian assistance for Yemen since 2015.

Al-Turaifi said the Cabinet approved a cooperation agreement between the General Sports Authority of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Sports of Brazil in the field of sports, which was signed in Brasilia in 2015, as well as an agreement signed with Tunisia in the field of defense. The Cabinet also endorsed the Kingdom’s accession to the membership of The Hague Conference on Private International Law, and the regulations for the participation of government bodies in foreign exhibitions.