JEDDAH, 28 October 2004 — A childhood ambition to be Ingrid Bergman and a passion for things Chinese combined in Carma Elliot — the British consul who arrived here last week — to guide her toward a career in diplomacy.
“When I was about six, I saw ‘The Inn of the Sixth Happiness’ and wanted to be Ingrid Bergman,” she said disarmingly. Bergman played a missionary who went to China and changed many people’s lives through working with children. “It stuck with me; when I chose what I wanted to do at university, it was Chinese.”
A chance encounter in Shanghai with the diplomatic service while in the last year of study settled her choice, and she entered the Foreign Office after graduating.
“Because I had a background in Chinese, I was put to dealing with the future of Hong Kong. It was a busy time being involved in the very practical arrangements in the run up to the handover.”
In her childhood, Elliot spent three years in Jeddah with her family. “I have very clear memories of Jeddah.” She said she had tried to look for remembered landmarks. “I don’t see anything, but going to the old town was something I clearly remembered.” Jeddah then was little more than just the city and the city wall.
“The thing that really came back to me was the smell of shawarma. That was the first meal I ever had here.”
A woman in such a senior position and heading up a mission is a new move for the British government in Saudi Arabia. “I assume there will be challenges here as a woman in conducting business.” So far she has been very pleasantly surprised. “People have been very accepting of the fact that the government has chosen to send a woman here. They respect that.”
The positive aspect of appointing a woman she felt was that she would have access to the female community here who might not otherwise be accessible to male colleagues. “There is such a lot going on here; discussions about the role of women, where they are currently placed in society and the aspirations they have. Key figures in private enterprise are women; that will be a very interesting area to look at.”
Part of her role is to respond to the British community and businesses together with a new function which is to manage trade and investment throughout the Kingdom.
In her last posting — Chonqing, a large industrial city in central China — she established a diplomatic post and raising profile from scratch. In a rare case of completing the childhood Bergman dream, Elliot adopted a seven-month-old baby girl while in China — Isobel — who accompanies her in Jeddah.
“There are challenges, given the current security situation,” she said discussing what she hopes to achieve here. “I will explore ways to connect and respond to local communities and raise awareness of what modern Britain is about and then engage with them.” She wishes to expand that process and find new ways of doing business, building on existing foundations.
Saudi contacts she has met so far welcome British business. “There is a lot of interest in what Britain is doing and British products — so if the trade figures were half as much again when I leave, that would be great.”
“If I achieve a wider understanding of what the community here is doing in terms of outreach to the female community and to Jeddah in general as a social, commercial and political center, then that would be an important achievement too.”
Education and culture, she thinks, form links that last through life. Did this mean increasing numbers of Saudi students going to the UK or introducing English language and methodology here?
“Both,” Elliot replied decisively. “There is already an upward trend of Saudi students going to the UK and work being done to find the appropriate vehicle for their study.” She felt that as Saudization grows, demand for vocational skills will increase. “Training both individuals and trainers is important,” she said. “That’s an area where Britain has great expertise. We have learned from our own mistakes and therefore have expertise that has been honed and to offer to people.”
Elliot said she was struck by the number of people whose children are learning English. “If that is something that parents want to happen, whether institutionalized or not, then it is a demand to be met.”
Any country needs a work force that can engage with the wider world. “That’s something that is happening in Saudi business,” she said. “The Saudi work force will need to be able to compete with the English speaking work force in China, India or elsewhere. That’s what genuine competition means.”
Commenting on her approach to the task ahead, Elliot described her intended style of approach as very straightforward yet open to other influences. “Other issues will come up that are slightly more sensitive and difficult to deal with,” she said and hoped they could be resolved in an open and courteous manner.
“I find so far that this is a fairly formal society — and you have to adapt your own style to that. I hope that people find me friendly, approachable and open; that is what I am aiming for.”
