Government | Tuesday 7 April, 2015 8:07 am |

The Shoura Council called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to consider issuing business visas to genuine businessmen without insisting on certificates of Saudi sponsorship to visit the Kingdom.
The 27th session of the council was chaired by Deputy Speaker Amin Al-Jaafri on Monday.
According to Assistant Speaker Yahya Al-Samaan, the council called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate with the Council of Saudi Chambers to conduct regular studies on the degree of satisfaction among the beneficiaries of business visas issued to them in their respective countries.

The council urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to create a database related to international agreements and conventions, and support them with qualified legal officers. These cadres can properly deal with these issues in a way that can serve the interest of the Kingdom and furnish each government agency with agreements concerning that particular agency to revise, activate and give guidance on them.
It also called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to conduct studies on scholarship students abroad and other Saudis permanently residing in foreign countries in terms of their social and economic conditions. The council called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to draw up a funding program that will help the ministry’s employees working abroad to own housing units in the Kingdom on an easy installment basis whereby the Ministry will bear costs of funding under certain conditions.

At the outset of the meeting, the Shoura asked the Saline Water Conversion Corp. (SWCC) to draw up the structure for industrial safety in all facilities affiliated with SWCC. The council also listened to remarks raised by the members of the Committee of Water, Agriculture and Environment in the light of the regular report of SWCC for the year 1434-1435 read out by Committee Chairman Ali Al-Tikhais, Al-Samaan said.

The council also renewed its call on SWCC to speed up coordination with concerned bodies to draw up a long-term plan (25 years) to determine requirements of the saline plants and water transport systems to all parts of the Kingdom, taking into consideration population growth and economic development, and to create mechanisms of finance and implementation.

The council renewed its call for SWCC to coordinate with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and other mega-companies such as Saudi Aramco, SABIC and Saudi Electricity Co. to activate the initiative on manufacturing spare parts, electric and water desalination techniques.