RIYADH, 3 February — A private establishment is planning to set up a school to train women in floral decoration in cooperation with the Dutch Embassy in Riyadh. The move follows a survey that showed Saudi women own about 30 percent of flower shops in the Kingdom.

Akram Sharafuddin, director of Zanabik International Trade Est., said his company was planning to establish the school considering the huge interest shown by a large number of women. He said qualified Saudi women would teach the art at the school.

The Dutch Embassy will invite experts from the Council of Flowers in the Netherlands to teach at the school and supervise its activities, he said. Holland is well known for flower exports as well as advanced flora decoration techniques. Saudi Arabia's flower imports from the Netherlands reached more than SR9 million in 1999.

Abeer Al-Kholaiwi, a student at the College of Technical Education in Riyadh and a member of the jury that judged a floral decoration contest at the Dutch Embassy in Riyadh last week, said flower arrangement was one of the subjects taught at her school. However, she pointed out that the course was not adequate for training professionals.

"Most Saudi women who own flower shops in the Kingdom have done courses in the field by their own effort," she said.

Al-Kholaiwi expressed her hope that a special branch would be opened at the College of Technical Education to teach this interesting art. "Such a course would receive good response as there are a large number of men and women interested in this art," she added.

Resha Al-Howshan, owner of Shalimar showroom for flowers, said she studied internal decoration in New York before opening a showroom for flowers and internal decoration. Her showroom won the first prize in a competition held at the Dutch Embassy last year.

Sharafuddin said that 12 contestants participated in the third competition for floral decoration at the embassy last week, adding that there was a plan to hold a large scale competition at Arab world level.

The head of the jury for last week's competition, a Dutch, admired the tremendous interest shown by Saudis. However, he said they needed more training in terms of applying modern techniques in flower arrangement.

The agricultural consultant at the Dutch Embassy underscored the significance of the flower contests and said such events would promote flower consumption and exports. "We have already started planning for next year's competition and we hope that interested people from all over the Middle East will take part," he added.