A video that surfaced on social networking site Facebook featured Saudi Grand Mufti Abdel Aziz Al-Sheikh on a television program expressing his support for a concert set to be held by Egyptian singer Tamer Hosni in Saudi Arabia in March, stressing that it is Islamically permissible for anyone to attend it. “The Kingdom is safe and stable and has a good government that is close to God. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Entertainment (GAE) announced In February that Tamer Hosni would be giving a concert for the first time in the country in the King Abdullah Economic City on March 30. The reforms in the country’s cultural sector come as part of the Kingdom’s “Vision 2030,” whose aim is to double the contribution of the entertainment sector to the GDP from three to six percent. Salman has previously said that his country aims to localize 50 percent of the leisure sector after Saudi citizens spent US$22 billion on entertainment activities abroad each year.

Source: Egypt Independent March 12, 2018 14:37 UTC