“As expected Saudi Higher Education Minister Khaled Al-Anqari was there, seeing to it that everything was all right and in accordance with the extensive preparations for the event,” said a Ministry of Higher Education official.

With the opening ceremonies over, Al-Anqari and an accompanying entourage toured the exhibition area, interacting with exhibitors.

“At 60, he moved with a spring in his step as he conducted a tour of the wide exhibition area that is filled with exhibitors’ booths,” said a 33-year-old Saudi graduate student at a Japanese university who was attending the exhibition.

Seemingly indefatigable during the two hours or so of visiting the different booths, Al-Anqari amiably greeted those he met and flashed smiles to those he could not shake hands with.

He called on foreign exhibitors first, shaking hands with them and listened to what they had to say. In a Japanese university booth, a talking Buddha and dancing lady robots caught his attention.

The robots were the brainchild of Amr Almaddah, Fahad Algneaer, and Ammar Flimbar, students at Osaka, Waseda and Osaka Industrial universities respectively.

They are studying in Japan under the King Abdullah Scholarship Program. Asked how one of the robots could talk, programmer Almaddah said it had an artificial intelligence that they devised.

“The talking robot could move its hands and move with a pair of wheels with the use of batteries. Tell it to open a refrigerator and it would do it,” Jeddah-born Almaddah, who is working on a doctorate degree, told Arab News.

It was obvious that sooner than later, Saudi university graduates from foreign universities would be manufacturing robots that could help in household chores.

Fahad, who was born in Riyadh, said the robots are just examples of what they could come up with.

“We hope that the scholarship program continues so that we and other Saudi youths can continue the different projects that we’re undertaking,” he said.

Asked how much each Saudi scholar under the program spends annually, he said with a smile: “A big amount indeed.”

Al-Anqari visited next the booths of local universities. These included the Riyadh Colleges of Dentistry and Pharmacy, Shaqra University, King Saud University, King Faisal University, Islamic University of Madinah, Taif University, Dar Al-Uloom University, Princess Noura bint University, and Salman bin Abdulaziz University.

Their respective booths were distinct in design and style.

The booth of the Islamic University, for instance, is elevated from the ground and one has to climb a flight of stairs to get to it.

The whole structure is shaped like a globe with an entrance. This is in stark contrast to the other booths. One of the guests at the booth was Malaysian Ambassador Syed Omar Al-Saggaf, Counselor Mohamad Shahir Sabarudin and Malaysian Deputy Secretary General of Higher Education Dato Omar Abdulrahman.

Some booths feature modern styles with an Arabic touch.

“The booths, in fact, made the difference between local and foreign exhibitors,” said an embassy staffer who requested anonymity.