The Council of Ministers announced the creation of long-term and short-term educational visas. This decision was taken by the weekly session of the Council of Ministers, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, on Tuesday. The new long-term visa will be granted to students, researchers, and experts, for the purposes of academic study, and research visit. While the short-term visa will be granted to students, researchers, and visiting trainees, for the purposes of language study, training, participation in short programs and student exchange programs. The council’s decision said that the educational visa holder is excluded from the requirement related to providing a sponsor. At the outset of the session, the Cabinet was briefed on the contents of the recent talks and consultations covering the current developments at the international arena that took place between Saudi Arabia and a number of fraternal and friendly countries" leaders and their representatives. In this context, the Cabinet reiterated the Kingdom"s support for the good offices aimed at finding a political solution that would lead to an end to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, and to continue contributing at the humanitarian level to alleviating its impacts. The Cabinet expressed thanks to the governments of Russia and Ukraine for their cooperation and response to the mediation of Crown Prince in releasing prisoners of different nationalities, as part of his efforts to adopt humanitarian initiatives. The Cabinet also addressed the results of the Kingdom’s participation in the 77th session of the UN General Assembly and the bilateral and multilateral meetings held on the sidelines of its activities. The Kingdom highlighted its emphasis on continuing to support joint action and strengthening international cooperation to meet the challenges the world faces, and initiating everything that contributes to achieving a more peaceful and just world, and a promising future for the peoples and next generations. In his statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following the meeting, Acting Minister of Media Dr. Majid Bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi said that the Cabinet reviewed the overall situations and its courses in the region, stressing the contents of the statement issued by the International Quartet on Yemen. It also highlighted the Quartet’s condemnation of the military reinforcements of Houthi militia and its attacks inside Yemen, which threatened to disrupt the truce, and the affirmation of full support for the efforts of the United Nations Special Envoy to extend and expand the truce. The Cabinet pointed out to the Kingdom"s confirmation — during the general debate of the 51st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva — on the importance of promoting a culture of dialogue, cooperation, tolerance and respect for noble values and other cultures, considering their diversity as a key to achieving prosperity and sustainable development for all peoples of the world. On domestic affairs, the Cabinet commended the attention paid by the State to the programs and strategies based on the Kingdom’s Vision, especially with regard to the housing needs of citizens and the quality of services being provided to them including continuing to work on facilitating and increasing home ownership rates to reach the target of (70% by 2030). The Cabinet praised the need to improve the quality of municipal services, enhance the urban landscape and develop infrastructure, in addition to optimizing and sustainable use of natural and water resources. The Cabinet hailed the Kingdom"s topping the G20 countries in the rate of international tourist arrivals during the first seven months of 2022, with an increase of 121% compared to the same period in 2019, according to the latest reports issued by the World Tourism Organization. The Cabinet considers this as a continuation of the qualitative leaps in the tourism sector, which provides job opportunities for the Kingdom"s citizens, and represents a cultural bridge to communicate with the world. The Cabinet was briefed on the topics on its agenda, as well as on the conclusions reached by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, the Council for Political and Security Affairs, the Cabinet"s General Committee and the Cabinet"s Bureau of Experts in this regard. The Cabinet authorized the minister of culture, who is also chairman of the National Committee for Education, Culture and Science, to discuss and co-sign with the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) a draft memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the cultural field between the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia and ALECSO. The Cabinet authorized the minister of investment to discuss and co-sign with the Chinese side a draft memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Commerce of China on cooperation in the field of direct investment promotion. The Cabinet authorized the minister of investment to discuss and co-sign with Hong Kong’s side a draft memorandum of understanding between the government of Saudi Arabia and the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China on cooperation in the field of direct investment promotion. The Cabinet authorized the minister of finance to discuss and co-sign with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a draft memorandum of understanding between the Saudi government and IMF regarding the establishment of a regional office for IMF in the Kingdom, as well as supporting it in the field of capacity development. The Cabinet authorized the minister of health to discuss and co-sign with the Moroccan side a draft memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Health of Morocco on cooperation in health fields. The Cabinet approved the system of using security surveillance cameras and also approved an amendment of the organization of the General Authority for Statistics. — SPA