British ambassador in Riyadh reassigned to Kabul
Published: Mar 21, 2010 21:54 Updated: Mar 21, 2010 21:54
DAMMAM: British Ambassador Sir William Patey leaves next month for Afghanistan to become the UK's envoy to Kabul.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Saudi-British Week at the Asharqia Chamber, he said: "This is my last visit to the region as the British ambassador. I am going to Afghanistan."
Patey takes over from Mark Sedwill, who has been appointed NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan.
Patey served as a senior diplomat in Iraq from 2005-2006 and was also involved in the runup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq as head of the Foreign Office's Middle East Department from 1999-2002.
He said he would travel with many fond memories of Saudi Arabia.
"I have lots of memories. Three years in Saudi Arabia this time and three-and-a-half years before, that is six-and-a-half years in total ... I have spent longer in Saudi Arabia than in any other country," Patey told Arab News.
Before coming to Saudi Arabia as ambassador in 2007, he served as the deputy head of mission and consul general in Saudi Arabia from 1995-1998.
"The memories I have of Saudi Arabia are mainly of people -- the Saudi people I met and made friends with. Saudi Arabia will always remain a part of my life because of its warm people," he said.
He said his journey across the Empty Quarter ranked among his most vivid memories of Saudi Arabia.
"That is when I realized the vastness of this country," he said.
"The trips to Madain Saleh and the Hejaz Railway and scuba-diving in the Red Sea ... those are some of the memorable ones."
He said when he arrived in Riyadh in 2007 there was certainly a sense of Saudi Arabia making progress and an expansion of education, which is still ongoing.
"You could sense that this is the country that wanted to develop very fast, and that is still happening."
Patey's predecessor, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, was also posted to Kabul after his tenure in Riyadh.
He said Britain sends very senior people to Saudi Arabia.
"Since Afghanistan is our most important foreign policy issue at the moment, and since we have lot of troops in Afghanistan, we need a senior diplomat ... that is why I am going there."
He said the British Foreign Office had not announced the name of his successor but would soon.
