JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Interior Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif on Friday conveyed greetings from King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the employees of the ministry, the Presidency of State Security, and the military forces participating in this year’s Hajj security efforts. Prince Abdulaziz, who is also the chairman of the Supreme Hajj Committee, also conveyed the king and crown prince’s congratulations on Eid Al-Adha and for the success of security and organizational plans that contributed to maintaining the security and safety of pilgrims. His comments came during a meeting at the ministry’s headquarters in Makkah with senior officials, commanders of the security sectors and the Hajj security forces, and the supporting forces from the military and security sectors and agencies, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Prince Abdulaziz stressed the importance of advanced technologies in supporting the security forces in performing their duties during the Hajj season, hailing the progress achieved in benefiting from artificial intelligence applications this year, which improved the quality of field performance, and said that the utilization of AI technologies will continue to expand in the coming years. The interior minister said that the integrated work among all military and security sectors contributed greatly to the success of the Hajj security plan, which saw the number of pilgrims return to what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the meeting, Director of Public Security Lt. Gen. Mohammed Al-Bassami said that the participating security sectors were keen to exert all efforts to ensure the success of the security plans in integration with all parties, and achieved positive results. He added that one of the most significant gains in this year’s annual pilgrimage was employing artificial intelligence in managing and organizing crowds at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the holy sites, which helped maintain the security and safety of pilgrims.