Prince Sultan Award for Water is of Global Benefit: Prince Khalid bin Sultan

The Hague, October 31, SPA -- Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Assistant
Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs, who is
also Chairman of Board of Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Award for
Water, has stressed that the award is for the benefit of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia and the rest of the world, emanating from the belief of the founder of the
award in continuing works for resolving the problem of water scarcity locally and
worldwide.
In a press statement at the conclusion of the meeting of the Board's Award in Dutch
Delft city on Friday evening, he said, "The meeting discussed the strategy of the
Award which is very important as Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Premier,
Minister of Defense and Aviation has directed that the award is for the benefit of
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Arab States and the rest of the world to deal with the
problem of water scarcity, in the future. Therefore, there will be greater focusing
on in-depth researches to find solutions to this problem and to try through this
award to contribute greatly in solving this problem along with the Ministry of
Water which is responsible for water sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."


Prince Khalid bin Sultan pointed out that the meeting also discussed how to
cooperate with UNESCO in the future in this area and more discussion will be held
in the next meeting scheduled in Riyadh in April, next year.

He added that the meeting also discussed preparations for handing over the award in
December 2010 and the assessment of nominations received by the Secretariat-General
of the Award amounting to more than 50 researches from 17 countries, expressing
hope that more researches will arrive before the end of January 2010.

The Prince said, "Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Award has not been the
only one in the world, but it has been the largest recognized one."

He noted that the directives of the Crown Prince have been that the Award shall
contribute to solving this global problem which is the biggest one in the Middle
East and a major problem in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; therefore Crown Prince
Sultan is interested in the Award and his directives to us have been to strengthen
the Award and researches which might provide the way to solve future problems.

The Prince indicated that the Crown Prince's concern in water started when he
received integrated reports , especially researches from King Saud University and
according to this the Crown Prince started to establish the first research center
for water at the university which was one of the most important centers in the
Kingdom prior to the award, adding, "Then came his idea of encouraging researchers
in the Kingdom and the world to solve a problem which he considered not just a
global problem only ; as we know that the largest area with a shortage or scarcity
of water is the Middle East and the largest area in the Middle East, where there is
more scarcity is the Kingdom."

Prince Khalid bin Sultan said that emanating from this point, the contribution of
Crown Prince Sultan in this regard is not limited. He is interested in this problem
and in continuation of its solution, he added.

On the selection of the Netherlands for the Board's meeting, the Prince said
Netherlands' Heir Apparent was in the Kingdom last year attending the ceremony of
the Award and he invited us to hold the annual meeting of the Board in the
Netherlands.
--SPA 14:28 LOCAL TIME 11:28 GMT NNNN