RIYADH, 12 June 2004 — Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom have long been close allies. Countless high-level visits have been exchanged. The Kingdom remains by far the United Kingdom’s largest market for goods and services outside the OECD.
The UK and Saudi Arabia have a number of cultural and educational links. The British Council has an important English language and vocational training scheme in Saudi Arabia. The Chevening Scholarship Scheme and the Prince of Wales King Faisal Foundation Scholarship provide for an exchange of British and Saudi students to study cross-cultural issues.
In 1999, the UK became the first predominantly Christian country to organize an official Haj delegation to assist the 20,000 British pilgrims. It included members of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and volunteers from the Muslim community. This has been repeated every year since.
The quarterly publication from the British Embassy in Riyadh is an initiative designed to assist in further developing Saudi-British business cooperation. Over 5,000 copies are circulated both in Saudi Arabia and in the United Kingdom to individuals and companies in the public and private sectors concerned with trade between the two countries.
The British Embassy in Riyadh, the British Consulate in Jeddah and the British Trade Office in Alkhobar are keen to encourage articles of interest to all sections of the business community which illustrate areas of joint business interest
The British Embassy, in cooperation with the British Council, runs an annual scholarship program called the British Chevening Scholarship Scheme, which enables talented graduates and young professionals to study for a year at post-graduate level in some of Britain’s leading universities.
The Chevening program currently provides over 2,300 scholarships a year in over 150 countries worldwide. Of these, 1,600 are fully funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) at a cost of £29 million a year. A further 600 are jointly funded by the FCO and co-sponsoring partners including business, industry and other grant-giving establishments, who collectively contribute £7.5 million each year.
For the academic year 2002-3 the British Embassy in Saudi Arabia has been able to send over 15 students from Saudi Arabia.
Most Chevening Scholarships are for one-year courses at Masters level. Awards are also given for shorter vocational post-graduate courses lasting between three and six months. Preference is given to candidates in early to mid-career who wish to undertake post-graduate studies. Competition is fierce: there are on an average 25 applicants for every scholarship awarded. Many former Chevening scholars are now in positions of influence in government, business and industry, the media and many other walks of life in Saudi Arabia.
The British Chevening Scholarships program, formerly known as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Scholarships and Awards Scheme (FCOSAS), was established in 1983. The title of the scheme was changed in 1994 at the request of the then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office Affairs, The Right Honorable Douglas Hurd, MP, who decided to rename the scheme after Chevening House at Chevening in Kent, the Foreign Secretary’s official country residence.
In addition to the Chevening scholars, there are a great number of Saudis in all walks of life who are alumni of British schools and universities. The number of Saudi students in the UK has been on the increase in recent years. The British Council maintains contact with a great number of these students and former students in the hope of maintaining the bond that exists between many in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom Trade Investment (UKTI) provides Saudi businesses with general information on UK companies and advice on investing in the United Kingdom, as well as assistance with joint ventures and British business practices.