Riyadh, December 10, 2018, SPA -- December 10 marks the fourth anniversary of accession of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to power. This is a special occasion for citizens and residents alike to celebrate and express their gratitude to the King for all they have received during his rule – social security; stability; as well educational and economic prosperity.Saudi Arabia, led by King Salman, is undergoing a significantly transformation at a time when many other parts of the world have been experiencing social, political, economic, financial and developmental crises. Since King Salman’s ascension, Saudi Arabia has witnessed a heightened pace of development in all spheres, including economy, education, healthcare, social, transport, infrastructure, industry, electricity, water and agriculture. These all-encompassing developmental activities have helped the country to claim a position among the world's advanced nations. Many significant developmental projects took off last year which improved lives of citizens and residents.It's during the current reign of King Salman that Saudi women got the opportunity to play a key role in nation building. A historic Royal Decree last year allowed women to drive in the Kingdom for the first time, thus making their lives easier in many ways.The Kingdom also took major steps – locally, regionally and internationally – to eradicate terrorism and hold to account those responsible for such activities.The Kingdom also formed a 41-member Islamic Military Coalition to this end, apart from formulating an extensive policy on combating the menace at every level, including drying up financial resources for extremist organisations.Upon the directives of King Salman, Saudi Arabia launched in January the Saudi Aid Platform, a high-tech national podium designed by the Riyadh-based King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) to record and document all the Kingdom's humanitarian and charitable contributions.Since inception, the Kingdom has benevolently extended humanitarian, developmental and charitable assistance to many countries around the world without any discrimination or biases. It has also been one of the top 10 countries in the world in terms of charitable and humanitarian contributions – in cash and in kind – including offering soft loans to developing countries.In recent years, Saudi Arabia made 489 financial contributions to UN organisations, as well as other international and regional charitable bodies worth SAR3.49 billion ($929 million).The first 10 beneficiary countries Include Yemen (it received a total aid of $13.37 billion with the amount having been invested on 285 projects), Syria ($2.35 billion invested on 95 projects); Egypt ($1.84billion that benefited 20 projects), Niger ($ 1.32 billion spent on seven projects), Mauritania ($1.22bn, invested in 14 projects), Afghanistan ($567.1 million for 29 projects), China ($549.9m for 10 projects), Pakistan ($521.9m for 108 projects), Jordan ($516.9m for 11 projects), Tunisia ($ 514.2m for nine projects).The rest of the amount was distributed among 68 countries.There is little wonder that the celebrations of the fourth anniversary of King Salman’s accession is imbued with nationalistic fervour as the public reposes its faith in the leader's vision and policies for the future of the nation and their implementation according to the Vision 2030 roadmap.--SPA19:40 LOCAL TIME 16:40 GMT0023 www.spa.gov.sa/w802950