Saudi Arabia welcomed on Tuesday the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's hosting of a conference to to encourage peace talks in Afghanistan. The two-day meeting, which kicked off on Tuesday, will be hosted in Jeddah and the holy city of Makkah. The Kingdom voiced its stance during a cabinet session in Jeddah that was chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz. He briefed the ministers at the beginning of the meeting on the telephone call he received from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday. He also briefed them on the talks he held with visiting French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly and British Treasury Secretary Philip Hammond. The cabinet commended the agreement on the protection of classified and protected information between Saudi Arabia and France signed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, and Parly.

It was also briefed by Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz on his visits to Mauritius, the Comoros, Seychelles and the Maldives.

His talks focused bilateral relations between the Kingdom and these four countries and ways to bolster joint cooperation.

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The ministers then reviewed a number of reports on latest regional and international developments.

Furthermore, the cabinet highlighted Saudi Arabia’s topping of the United Nations list of donor countries for Yemen in 2018, according to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). This reflects the Kingdom's keenness and support for humanitarian and relief works to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people.

The cabinet also condemned the recent terrorist attack in Tunisia and Somalia, reiterating the Kingdom's solidarity with both countries against terrorism and extremism.

The "International Conference of Muslim Scholars on Peace and Stability in the Republic of Afghanistan" is attended by senior scholars from Afghanistan and an elite of Muslim scholars from around the world. They seek to assist in efforts to achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan, condemning terrorism and extremism that stem from the distorted interpretation of Islam.