King Salman hopes his visit to Russia this week and talks with President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials will achieve the aspirations of the two countries, he told the Cabinet on Tuesday. Addressing the weekly meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah, the king told ministers he looked forward to the visit enhancing relations between the countries to serve common interests and bring about global peace and security.

The historic visit, the first to Russia by a Saudi monarch, begins on Thursday. The king will lead a high-level delegation of government and private-sector figures.

The Cabinet expressed its thanks and appreciation to King Salman on Tuesday for the recent royal decree on traffic regulations, which included issuing driving licenses to women. In the decree last week, the king ordered ministries to take the necessary measures to prepare for allowing women to drive, to be implemented in June 2018.

During its weekly session session at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah, the Cabinet also appreciated the King’s inauguration of plans for a new city at Taif. The $3 billion project, announced on Sunday, will have more than 10,000 homes, a culture and heritage tourist center, technology and industry parks, a university and an airport.

Ministers also applauded the king’s speech at the launch of the project, when he stressed the prevalence of wealth, security and stability in the Kingdom and his readiness to listen to citizens in the best interest of their religion and homeland.

The Cabinet also welcomed the announcement by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the establishment of two companies, Al-Haram Ru’a and Al-Madinah Ru’a, in line with Vision 2030, to develop projects that will help accommodate the growing number of pilgrims during Hajj and Umrah. It also appreciated the PIF’s plan to develop the Jeddah waterfront corniche with an estimated investment of $4.8 billion over 10 years.

Ministers were also briefed on the meetings of the Saudi delegation with their Russian, American, Japanese and South Korean counterparts at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. The delegates discussed options for implementing the national atomic energy project in the Kingdom, notably the technical aspects of the engineering designs for the first two nuclear reactors.

The Cabinet expressed Saudi Arabia’s strong condemnation of terrorist acts in Manama, Mogadishu, Kabul, Marseille and Edmonton, and most recently in Las Vegas. It said the Kingdom stood against all forms of terrorism, violence and extremism.

At the regional level, the Cabinet welcomed the accession of Palestine to Interpol, the international police organization, which it considered a political achievement and success for the Palestinian struggle and the joint Arab action to strengthen the status and role of Palestine in the international arena