Category: General

Riyadh– GASTAT’s spokesman, Mohmmad Aldukhainy clarified that according to Royal Decree No. m/13 dated 2341391, participation in the General Population Census is mandatory based on article (four) of the decree, and questions asked by census interviewers must be answered.

The country’s general statistics law issued by Royal Decree No. 23 dated 7/12/1397 AH has granted GASTAT the authority to apply monetary fines to anyone who knowingly disrupts the census work, refuses to provide the required data, or provides incorrect data, he said.

“We received many inquiries through GASTAT’s communication channels asking if participation in the Saudi Census is mandatory and how the fines resulting from non-participation will be applied. I would like to assure all residents that fines are limited to those who refuse participation completely. The census interviewer cannot impose any fine directly and must get the approval of the regional supervisor. Fines will only be issued after directly warning household heads through regional supervisors, and after providing them with several opportunities to comply with the requirements”, he added.

GASTAT’s spokesman praised the high level of awareness of citizens and residents and their cooperation during the previous and current census phases, where only a limited number of participation refusal cases were reported. He also stressed that participation in the census is a national duty and a responsibility shared by all society members, as the census will provide reliable and trusted data to improve decision making and planning of public services such as education and health care.

Aldukhaini pointed out that GASTAT has enabled citizens and residents to easily participate in the census and avoid penalties through self-enumeration online. Through the census website, the census questionnaire can be filled using smart phones or personal computers from anywhere and at any time until the 25th of May without the need for a visit from a census interviewer. This can be done by visiting the online portal of the Saudi Census 2022 on the following link: https://survey.saudicensus.sa/en

GASTAT has also made several channels available to support census participants in completing the questionnaire. GASTAT support can be reached through the authorities help line number (920020081), or through GASTAT’ social media accounts, and the Saudi Census 2022 portal

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Taif– Taif Rose Festival concluded its activities, achieving record numbers in its second edition, as it witnessed a significant growth in terms of the number of its visitors, whose number exceeded 957,000 visitors from different segments of society, from the residents of Taif Governorate and the tourists who visited Taif Rose Festival during the blessed Eid Al-Fitr holiday.

The festival’s activities, which exceeded 50 diverse activities, dazzling between live artistic and musical shows, folk and visual shows, as well as many other events that were adorned with the fragrance of roses and its sweet smell, such as rose sculptures equipped for souvenir pictures, hanging chandeliers and baskets of roses, in addition to the cultural street activities.

The festival sought to empower the male and female citizens of Taif and develop their skills related to the cultivation and production of roses, in a way that contributes to the sustainability of this promising economic sector and the cultural symbolism of the Taif governorate, which has been known for thousands of years. This is done through practical application in an interesting manner and managed by a group of professional trainers.

The festival was distinguished by the participation of more than 700 young men and women from Taif governorate in its management and organization and in the various locations of its five events, which enhanced their skills and opened their horizons to discover promising opportunities in the field of event management and organization.

In terms of defining cultural identity at the global level, the “Taif Rose Basket” was recorded as one of the festival’s activities as the largest in the world, according to the Guinness World Organization certificate, breaking the record for the basket of roses registered as “Singapore Rose Basket”.

The dimensions of Taif rose basket were 12.129 meters in length, 7.98 meters in width and 1,297 meters in height, while the dimensions of the Singaporean rose basket were 9.47 meters in length, 6 meters in width and 1.2 meters in height.

It is worth mentioning that Taif Rose Festival was organized by the Ministry of Culture to celebrate the cultural, heritage and creative values associated with Taif rose for 9 centuries.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Riyadh, May 20, 2022, SPA– The MEDIATHON executive team announced the extension of the deadline for receiving applications and qualitative projects till May 27, 2022, instead of May 20, as per the desire of individuals and entities wishing to join the competition.

The number of registered teams in the media competition “MEDIATHON” has reached around 600 teams, with the latest number of visitors to the race website amounting to nearly 1.5 million.

The extension decision represents an opportunity that the race offers to those interested and who are yet to register due to a shortage of time.

The MEDIATHON race is an initiative presented by the Ministry of Information’s Center for Government Communication (CGC) and implemented in cooperation with the STC Group.

The project offers media professionals and interested people an opportunity to compete to bring about qualitative initiatives and projects that contribute to providing creative solutions to media challenges and submit them through the project’s portal (mediathon.media.gov.sa).

Source: Saudi Press Agency

NAIROBI, Provision of quality and affordable healthcare services to women, children and adolescents in Africa’s conflict hotspots will be a priority, to avert a humanitarian crisis, senior officials said at a virtual forum.

Margaret Agama-Anyetei, acting director for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development at the African Union (AU), said, the bloc and its multilateral partners intend to scale up maternal, infant and adolescent health services in fragile settings, as part of efforts to build the resilience of communities.

“Responding to the health needs of women, children and youth in humanitarian settings is critical, to save lives and build resilience in the face of fragilities connected to the climate crisis, conflicts and the pandemic,” said Agama-Anyetei.

She disclosed that, the establishment of a home-grown agency, to deal with the humanitarian crisis in the continent had gathered steam, and priority will be accorded to vulnerable groups like women, children, the elderly and youth.

While acknowledging that the climate crisis, COVID-19 pandemic and internal strife had taken a heavier toll on women, girls, children and the adolescents in Africa, Agama-Anyetei said, providing them with nutritional support, clean water, sanitation and reproductive health services was paramount.

Early preparedness and response, improved accountability and partnership are key to boosting response to the health and nutrition needs of women and children in fragile settings, said Agama-Anyetei.

Convened by global health lobbies, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) and CORE Group, the virtual forum sought to rekindle conversation on effective delivery of health services to women, children and adolescents in humanitarian and fragile settings.

Chipo Chimamise, deputy director of Maternal and Reproductive Health of the Ministry of Health and Childcare of Zimbabwe, said that, investing in women, child centered healthcare programmes was crucial, given their vulnerability to diseases, malnutrition occasioned by conflicts and natural disasters.

Chimamise suggested that, African governments should prioritise investing in mental health and psychosocial support, to help heal trauma among women, children and youth in humanitarian settings.

Source: Nam News Network

London, May 20, 2022, SPA– The Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute revealed today the comprehensive rating methodology for investment in environmental, social, and corporate governance, which aims to enrich and accelerate investments in environmental, social, and corporate governance in emerging economies.

This came during the FII-organized Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Summit in Emerging Markets, held at the Rosewood Hotel in London, with the participation of Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of FII Institute, experts, heads of corporations and officials from 40 countries.

Richard Attias, CEO of FII Institute, said in a statement: “Our work at the FII is focused on raising awareness about the weaknesses in the current standards for investment in the environment, society and governance, and their impact on global sustainability prospects, and calling for a comprehensive and equitable application of environmental and social and corporate governance, by stimulating actual action by major key players around the world”.

He added that the “comprehensive rating framework and methodology for investment in environmental, social and corporate governance” were developed in partnership with Ernst & Young, to provide unbiased ratings to companies in emerging markets, with a focus on sectoral challenges rather than country risks, to ensure the achievement of the principle of fair competition between companies in both emerging and developed markets”.

During the summit, an investment of €500,000 was announced in Timbeter, one of the leading companies in green technology, specializing in timber metering. Moreover, an introductory document on investing in environmental, social, and corporate governance has been released, calling on investors, governments, and companies in emerging markets to step up their efforts and improve performance

The initiative also called on investors to publicly pledge to increase the share of capital allocated to emerging markets from less than 10% to a minimum of 30% of allocated and invested capital, by 2030 and urged governments to encourage companies based in emerging markets to become more active in disclosing relevant information through its regular reporting channels.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Brussels, May 20, 2022, SPA– European External Action Service Spokesman Peter Stano has reiterated that the aim of presenting the working paper on cooperation with the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the Arab States aims to establish a strategic partnership between the EU and the GCC.

Stano, during the European Commission’s daily press briefing, stated that this cooperation comes among other factors given the current geopolitical developments, adding that the European Union is stronger with its partners.

He added, “Together with our partners, we represent 20% of the global economy, and half of the foreign direct investments,” noting that there the two parties have other areas of common interest such as climate, green transformation, and energy.

GCC Secretary-General, Dr. Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf, had welcomed the European High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borrell’s announcement of the adoption of the joint working paper of the European Parliament and the European Commission, on the “strategic partnership with the Gulf states” to expand and deepen the European Union’s cooperation with the GCC.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Jeddah– Jeddah Season 2022 launched the activities of the world’s famous Japanese “Anime Village” in the “City Walk” zone, which includes many Japanese shows, cultural events and art concerts in the presence of Japanese personalities and many fans of the international anime event.

The opening activities of the Japanese anime, which will last for three days, witnessed the largest cosplay parade, in which 50 models participated, anime music shows, a concert by the artist Rasha Rizk, Watch Otaku, and many interesting Japanese events with which the visitors interacted.

The Jeddah Season’s management has prepared the “Anime Village” in the zone of City Walk, which is the first of its kind in the world, “Anime Village” with many services for the visitor to spend a journey in the world of art and entertainment with a distinctive Japanese character as the Japanese street welcomed its visitors with show bands, Japanese restaurants, anime stores, anime labyrinth and global anime plays.

Fifty award-winning Japanese anime showrunners from around the world participated in this show art, which attracted the admiration of visitors.

Jeddah Season’s Department has allocated an hour for young talents to participate daily in Japanese culture and learn about international experiences in this field, from Sunday to Wednesday every week.

The “City Walk” zone, which hosts the “Anime Village”, is one of the most important zones for Jeddah Season activities, with its diverse options, multiple locations and its suitability for different ages of both genders.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Hajjah, Yemen– Al-Jadah Health Center clinics in Midi district, Hajjah Governorate, Yemen, provided treatment services to 11,841 beneficiaries during the month of April 2022 AD, with the support of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) .

The emergency clinic received 1,392 patients, the internal medicine clinic 1,176, the reproductive health clinic 126, the surgery and dressing department 255, the epidemiological clinic 479, the pediatric clinic 83 children, the radiology department benefited 267 patients, the laboratory 903, Awareness and Education department 3,548, medical referral department 27, obstetric department 37, the Nursing Services Department 739, blood transfusion department 4, while 3,548 patients were given medicines, and 12 activities have been implemented to dispose of waste.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Hargeisa– King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) on Tuesday distributed 2,200 food baskets in Sool, Somaliland, benefiting 13,200 individuals.

This aid comes as part of the relief and humanitarian efforts provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by KSrelief, to enhance food security and support the affected countries and peoples around the world.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Makkah– The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Holy Mosque and Prophet’s Holy Mosque sterilizes Al-Safa and Al-Marwa mountains at the Grand Holy Mosque periodically (one a week) according to an action plan prepared in cooperation with the agency of services and field affairs to realize environment prevention to sterilize the Grand Holy Mosque and its yards and facilities with the aim of increasing the level of sterilization and prevention.

Director of the administration of sterilization and carpets of the Grand Holy Mosque Jaber Al-Wadaani said that the two mountains are sterilized with special tools and cleaning materials for the Grand Holy Mosque by a specialized team of architectural personnel who are tasked with following up on the conditions of Al-Safa and Al-Marwa mountains on a daily basis to address shortcomings, clean glass surrounding Al-Marwah Mountain, and clean dust.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Jeddah– Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Hissein Brahim Taha on 20 May 2022 will be on an official visit to the US capital city of Washington, D.C., to hold a series of meetings with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and senior US State Department officials.

The Secretary General will discuss with US State Department officials a wide spectrum of topics of shared interest, from political issues, to counterterrorism, the prevention of extremism and Islamophobia, human rights, climate change, women’s empowerment and health issues.

Hissein Brahim Taha’s visit comes within the context of the first leg of a tour of strategic dialogues between the OIC and the United States of America to address common global challenges through reinforced partnership and bilateral cooperation between the two sides.

Source: Saudi Press Agency

Jeddah– The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has sent a cable of congratulation to President Paul Biya of the Republic of Cameroon on the anniversary of his country’s National Day.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques wished the President constant good health and happiness and the government and people of the Republic of Cameroon steady progress and prosperity.

Source: Saudi Press Agency