His Excellency Dr. Muhammad Bintin, the Minister of Hajj and Umrah and the member of the Committee supervising the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute for Hajj and Umrah Research, discussed with His Excellency Prof. Abdullah Bafail, the President of Umm Al-Qura University, the work, services and future plans offered by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute for Hajj and Umrah Research. His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Hajj and Umrah Prof. Abdul-Fattah Mashat, the undersecretaries, representatives of the office concerned with achieving the vision of 2030 at the Ministry, and a team of experts and academic staff members at the Institute, headed by the Dean of the Institute Dr. Sami Barahmin, attended the meeting.

His Excellency the President of the University praised the great support and care that Hajj, Umrah and visit services enjoy from the Wise Leadership, may Allah support it. He added that the Institute is considered to be one of the most prominent scientific and research sectors that promote the improvement and development of serving pilgrims and visitors of the Two Sacred Mosques. He declared that the main purpose of this meeting was to discuss the plans and strategies of the Institute during the coming period in a way that goes in line with the plan of the National Transformation Program of 2020 and the vision of the Kingdom of 2030.

His Excellency stressed that they were keen on developing the consulting and research plans of the Institute according to the actual needs of the pilgrims and visitors of the Two Holy Mosques, within the vision of the Kingdom and in a way that goes in line with modern technologies in all fields and services, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, crowd management systems and applications, data analysis, smart cities, and other modern applications.

His Excellency Prof. Bafail added that they have agreed to form a team from the University, represented in the Institute, and the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to develop a comprehensive plan to provide an integrated system of services and suitable needs in order to achieve the desired goal and accomplish complete ease in attaining the best services with regard to the pilgrims residence and transportation between the sacred rituals and Makkah Al-Mukarramah, according to scientific and modern means. Moreover, His Excellency praised the care and support of His Excellency the Minister of Hajj and Umrah.

On his part, His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Prof. Abdul-Fattah Mashat, said that they have discussed the five-year strategic plan of the Institute. He added that there is true harmony in the strategic orientations concerned with the Hajj and Umrah management system. He declared that the Institute has a great record of scientific research related to the services offered to pilgrims, in addition to accumulative experience and well-versed experts in this field.