Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Kitak Lim on Sunday hailed the swimming site dedicated for people with special needs, including special equipment, maritime safety equipment, signage and control tower.
Lim and the visiting delegation expressed their admiration of the location. It is the first of its kind dedicated for persons with disabilities to practice swimming in Saudi Arabia.
He also hailed the “efforts of the Saudi Border Guard in its quest to work on processing swimming pools on all shores of the Kingdom to suit the needs of those with special needs.”
Border Guard Director General Maj. Gen. Awad bin Eid Al-Balawi launched the site on Friday as the beginning of a Border Guard initiative for people with special needs.
“The Saudi leadership has made it a top priority to care for disabled persons and people with special needs. It made the protection of their rights a constitutional basis according to the provisions of Islam,” Al-Balawi told the visiting delegation.
He also pointed out that Vision 2030 was supportive of empowering people with special needs to obtain appropriate opportunities for education and work.
“The National Transition Program 2020 is also working on turning people with special needs from recipients of assistance to producers,” he added.
Al-Balawi recently directed the rapid establishment of a fully equipped location for swimming purposes for those with special needs to provide suitable services to beach visitors and provide support to their families.
Minister of Transport Sulaiman Al-Hamdan and the head of the Public Transport Authority, Rumih Al-Rumaih, were also present.