JEDDAH, 17 July 2005 — “When we enter a new situation in life and are confronted by a new person, we bring with us the prejudices of the past and our previous experiences of people. These prejudices we project upon the new person. Getting to know a person is largely a matter of withdrawing projections; of dispelling the smoke screen of what we imagine he is like and replacing it with the reality of what he is actually like.”
So said Karl Popper, the Austrian philosopher; it could equally have been Dr. Stephan Keller, the German consul general, who leaves Jeddah soon to take up the German ambassadorship to Sudan.
With a doctorate in law and a philosophical turn of mind — Karl Popper being one of Dr. Keller’s favorite thinkers — it is not surprising that he understood that, “the perceptions were mine; I was positively surprised at the people and the environment I met in Jeddah.”
He arrived in Jeddah in the summer of 2002 after, as he put it, “receiving the instruction to ‘go to Jeddah and do something useful.’ I had the normal cliches and prejudices regarding the Middle East and Saudi Arabia. Jeddah was my first encounter with the Arab world.”
Jeddah was Dr. Keller’s first posting as a professional diplomat. A long career included some time in embassies in Tanzania and Greece as head of the Department of Economy. Taxing emotionally and physically but described as very interesting and rewarding were later appointments as deputy head of the German delegation to the Conference of Disarmament and as head of the section in the Foreign Ministry responsible for the issues arising from World War II reparations.
“What struck me first and most importantly was the polite and civilized ways of the people I met here,” said Dr. Keller. Used to “a more business minded — sterner — approach,” he quickly discovered that in Saudi Arabia, “at least the same importance is given to your personality as business. They want to know you, understand who you are. I think the Saudis are much more polite in an old fashioned way than Europeans.”
Unaware of the traditions and culture of the Kingdom, Dr. Keller admitted that German perceptions were out of sync with reality. “In Germany, unfortunately the image of the Middle East — particularly Saudi Arabia — is horrific. It is widely seen as a country beset by terrorism, aggressive and arrogant. These cliches prevail; our geographic knowledge about the region and the Kingdom is not that good. When I arrived, I found entirely the opposite. It gave me a very positive foundation on which to work.”
His arrival soon after Sept. 11, 2001 was propitious. Saudi Arabia’s symbiotic relationship with the US, which had made the penetration by businesses into the Saudi market difficult, was changing. That deeply influenced their thinking and way of doing business and the Saudis were looking at alternatives.
“We had a chance to reach out to Saudis,” said Dr. Keller. The German government established a unit to establish Islamic Dialogue. “We had slightly neglected the ‘soul’ of the place; we didn’t bother much about the mentality of the people, their society or their anxieties. We decided to do something about it.”
Dr. Keller thought that “being here” acknowledged the economic and cultural importance of the Kingdom. “The physical presence of a consul general makes a difference; in consular terms it is a starting point.”
Understanding that the Saudis place a very great deal of importance on personality, Dr. Keller founded the Saudi-German Business Group of Jeddah (SGBG). “A consul opens doors for businessmen. I like this personal approach because it gives you the human dimension in your dealings — you are not just a number. This should not be underestimated.”
“Being here” though was not enough; sustainability and continuity was needed. This became the point of departure for the SGBG. “I tried to establish a group of people who liked Germany and wanted to bring together people who have any connection with Germany and who might contribute to employment in Germany, invest there and develop a business there.”
The SGBG though has a much wider brief. “It is a platform for any cultural exchange between Germans and Saudis. Business is an element, but not the sole or even the most important element.”
Key to the success of the group was the personality and chairmanship of Khaled Juffali. “Without him it would not have survived. There was no need for him to become chairman — it was a local service and based on friendship, precisely in the Saudi way.”
Dr. Keller says that he had learned two valuable lessons for doing business the Kingdom. “Make fiends if you want to do business and give it some time. You can’t just pop in, sign a fat contract and pop out. Once you have made friends, they remain loyal and close.”
He leaves Jeddah with some sadness. “I cannot remember any posting in my whole professional lifetime where I have made so many personal relationships as in Jeddah. I would have loved to stay longer. Being a diplomat you are a sort of social orphan — once you develop a relationship, you have to leave and wonder what might have been.”
He hoped he could make a contribution “to improve the lives of the Sudanese” in his new posting. Intellectually it will be challenging and satisfying. “I shall be on a new learning curve there, but this doesn’t compensate your emotional loss — or prevent you having sore feelings about leaving a city you learned to love.”
He said in his job, “you are always brought back to the starting point every three years or so. Always a beginner, you have to learn and it makes you modest. You have to meet new challenges and that prevents you going stale.”
Dr. Keller sees big opportunities to do business with the Kingdom, but curtailed by “the reluctance of German companies to come to Saudi Arabia due to the bad image we generally have of the Kingdom in Germany.”
He said they would do better if “we set up a structure more in line with the needs of business than we have had in the past. I feel we should develop something in that area to facilitate trade promotion in the Kingdom.”
With characteristic modesty, he added: “This however is beyond the mandate of a simple consul.”
