The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is exerting great efforts to serve the Two Holy Mosques and the pilgrims, said Director General of Passports Maj. Gen. Sulaiman al-Yahya. Yahya told Asharq al-Awsat that the Directorate General of Passports has prepared an integrated plan to facilitate passport procedures, using modern technology at all Saudi ports used by pilgrims. It also raised the number of its employees at King Abdulaziz International Airport and Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Medina. Yahya said that around 70,000 pilgrims enter and leave everyday in light of enhanced performance, especially in the hall of pilgrims at King Abdulaziz airport, which has seen an increase of 58 counters. He pointed out that the Makkah Road Initiative began with processing the entry visas for pilgrims from the airports of their countries before their flights take off. Under his initiative, pilgrims have their fingerprints taken and passports stamped at their country of departure. Their entry into Saudi Arabia would be faster and their baggage will be sent to their places of residence through the Ministry of Hajj. It was first applied this year on pilgrims coming from Indonesia and Malaysia in accordance with Saudi procedures taken to facilitate the religious visit. “Every year, the Directorate prepares a new plan and … monitors its implementation mechanism to help raise the level of performance in serving pilgrims,” Yahya noted. He explained that this year the plan included improvement of some technical services at King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah, and Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Airport in Medina, which are the main ports of entry for pilgrims. Jeddah Islamic Port also receives a large numbers of pilgrims, in addition to 25 other land, air and sea ports.