King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud inaugurated the second year of the seventh session of the Shura Council at the Council's headquarters in Riyadh.

The king delivered the following annual royal address:

“I am pleased to inaugurate the works of the second year of the seventh session of the Shura Council today, praying to Allah Almighty to make our works sincere and help us for the interests of the homeland and its citizens, appreciating the Council's efforts and works, wishing you all success.

The Kingdom since its foundation by late King Abdulaziz has applied Sharia, adhered to the Islamic religion and justice in all matters, and adopted the principle of Shura (consultation).

We praise Allah for all blessings, and thank Him for honoring us with the service of the Grand Holy Mosque, the Prophet's Holy Mosque, and Allah's guests of pilgrims, Umrah performers and visitors.

As the Kingdom's vision 2030 includes developmental plans and programs aiming at preparing the Kingdom for the promising future and for achieving the vision's objectives, some government agencies have been restructured and a number of decisions have been taken to serve the interests of the society, strengthen the homeland's security, combat corruption, and increase the participation of male and female citizens in the national development.

We appreciate the role of the private sector as an important partner in development, its support for the national economy, expanding in employing the homeland's male and female youths, and localizing the industry and will continue to empower the private sector and stimulate it to achieve further growth and development.

I have directed ministers and officials to facilitate procedures, provide further services of high quality for male and female citizens, expand in a number of programs affecting main needs of citizens, notably the most important one is the housing program.

Corruption, in all its kinds and forms, is a severe lesion that undermines societies and prevents their development and growth, and we are determined to confront it in a fair and firm way so that our country enjoys the renaissance and development hoped for by every citizen. In this context we ordered to form a supreme committee for public corruption issues under the chairmanship of His Royal Highness Crown Prince, and we praise Allah that those corrupted are few.

And what they have made does not prejudice the integrity of honorable citizens of this country of princes, ministers, businessmen, employees, and workers at all levels, and in their various positions of responsibility in public and private sectors, as well as residents of workers and investors, whom we are proud and wish them all success.

Your country seeks to develop its present, build its future and move forward on the track of growth, modernization, and continuous development, in a way that does not contradict our principles, adhering to moderation as a way and approach just as Allah commanded us to do so, we are proud of our values and constant fundamentals.

Our message to all is that there is no place between us for an extremist who sees moderation as degeneration and exploits our tolerant religion to achieve his goals, and there is no place between us for a degenerated one who sees our war on extremism as a means of disseminating decadence and exploits the facilitations of the religion to achieve his goals. We will hold accountable anyone who exceeds that. We are the protectors of the religion and honored by Allah Almighty with the service Islam and Muslims, praying to Allah Almighty to crown us with all success.

The Kingdom plays an effective role at regional and international organizations and enjoys a global and regional respect that enabled the timely convening of historical summits in which many leaders of the brotherly and friendly countries participated and established a joint action aimed at achieving security and stability in the region and the world.

The Kingdom has continued its pioneering and effective role in combating phenomenon of terrorism and drying up its sources.

The Kingdom called for a political solution for the crises in the region and resolve its issues, topped by the Palestinian Cause and restoration of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights, including the right to establish their independent state which East Jerusalem as its capital.

On this occasion, I would like to reiterate the condemnation of the Kingdom and its deep regret of the US decision on Jerusalem which represents a blatant bias against the historic rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, which have been guaranteed by the relevant international resolutions and have been recognized and supported by the international community.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom is working with its allies to confront the tendency of interference in the countries’ internal affairs to fuel sectarian strife and undermine regional security and stability.

The Kingdom seeks to consolidate the values of tolerance and coexistence along with its effort for lifting the suffering of peoples.”

King Salman opened the seventh session of the Shoura Council’s second year at the headquarters of the council in Riyadh.

King Salman was received by his special advisor Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Prince of Riyadh Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prince of Riyadh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Interior Prince Abdul Aziz bin Saud bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, the Kingdom's Mufti Chairman of the Supreme Council of Scholars and the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Ifta Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh, the Chairman of the Shoura Council Dr. Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Sheikh, and senior officials of the Shoura Council and the heads of the committees. 

source: Alarabiya