JEDDAH, 11 August 2004 — Haj facilities and bilateral commercial interests are of utmost importance to Ausaf Sayeed who assumed charge as India’s new consul general here yesterday.

“My highest priority will be to do things in the most responsive and responsible manner with transparency,” Sayeed told Arab News.

“Let me ensure that all our services will be rendered to the satisfaction of the community,” said Sayeed, who held his first meeting at the consulate where he was briefed on consular and community welfare activities by consuls and other officials.

“Accessibility will be a very important factor. All our officials, including myself, will be accessible to members of the community who need our services and assistance,” he said, adding that he will be present together with some designated consuls and officials at the consulate during its periodic “open house” sessions where community members can address their grievances and problems. The consulate will host its second open house program tomorrow.

Sayeed said arrangements for the next Haj were under way. “I consider the Jeddah posting as a challenge because of 120,000 Haj pilgrims coming from India,” said Sayeed who succeeds Syed Akbaruddin who returned to New Delhi last month at the end of his term.

Sayeed told a group of Indians who greeted him at the consulate that all community related activities would continue to be encouraged and get prominence.

Sayeed will also be focusing on further boosting bilateral commercial ties.

“I’m happy to be back in Jeddah where I worked earlier as commercial and Haj consul,” Sayeed told Indians who received him at King Abdul Aziz International Airport on Monday night.

Sayeed, who served as counselor at the Indian Embassy in Copenhagen, before coming here, is a career diplomat from the Indian Foreign Service. He also served at the Indian embassies in Cairo, Riyadh and Doha in various capacities, and as regional passport officer in Hyderabad.

Sayeed holds a Ph.D. in geology from Osmania University and a diploma in Advanced Arabic from Cairo’s American University.