BBC Monitoring

Text of report in English by Saudi state-owned official news agency SPA website

[SPA headline: "Crown Prince Sultan to patronize conference" - source time not given]

Riyadh, Nov 29, SPA - On behalf of the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdallah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz, Crown Prince Sultan Bin-Abd-al-Aziz, the Deputy Premier, Defence and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, will patronize here on Saturday [1 December] a conference on information technology and national security.

The conference will be organized by the presidency of the general intelligence from Dec 1-4, 2007 at King Fahd Cultural Centre here.

Speaking on the occasion, Prince Miqrin bin Abd-al-Aziz, the President of the general intelligence, said this will be a historical day in the history of the general intelligence.

He noted that the convening of the conference coincides with the 50th anniversary for the establishment of the presidency of the general intelligence.

Prince Miqrin noted that the presidency of the general intelligence receives a ! generous support from the King and the Crown Prince.

Prince Miqrin said the convening of the conference comes in line with the legislations adopted by the Saudi Government to accelerate and develop the environment of the electronic work at the private and public sectors.

He pointed out that a number of experts, researchers, academicians and persons concerned with information technology and national security from the Arab countries, Europe, the US, Asia, Australia and Africa will participate in the conference.

Hoping that the conference will yield positive results, Prince Miqrin said the conference will contribute to enhancing contacts between the security organs and the experts in the field of information technology, and it will provide the personnel of the security organs with the latest developments in the field of information technology.

Prince Miqrin noted that the conference will review a number of topics including the role of the information te! chnology in the political, economic and social domains in addition to the security challenges facing the world.

38 scientific researches will be delivered at the conference, and its first scientific session will be held on Sunday, he added.

Source: SPA news agency website, Riyadh, in English 0000 gmt 29 Nov 07