JEDDAH, 26 July 2004 — Carma Elliot has been appointed Britain’s new consul general in Jeddah in succession to Carsten Piggott.
Elliot, though confirmed in the post, will not take up her new appointment until late October.
Elliot comes to Jeddah from her term as consul general in the important industrial city of Chongqing in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province.
Elliot is not new to Saudi Arabia. She spent much of her early childhood in the Kingdom when her father worked for Saudi Arabian Airlines. She attended what was then called the Parents’ Cooperative School in Jeddah during the 1970s. She says she is delighted to be coming back to Jeddah, in such a senior capacity.
She joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1987, after studying Chinese and German at Leeds, Fudan (Shanghai) and Leipzig universities. She has worked in the Hong Kong and Middle East departments in the Foreign Office in London.
When Elliot joined the Foreign Office, she did not see herself, as consul general, or as a radio talk-show host. She achieved both during her posting in Chongqing — 1999 to 2004 — where she was the first British consul general.
The show — “Let’s Talk” — made Elliot Britain’s best-known voice in China. Fluent in Mandarin, she opened a window on the world for millions of Chinese.
Her previous jobs overseas included postings to the political sections of the British embassies in Bonn, Brussels, Madrid, Paris and Beijing.
Elliot speaks Chinese, German, Dutch, French, Spanish and some Arabic. She is single, with one daughter. Her hobbies include Chinese calligraphy, reading, traveling and cooking. The queen bestowed the honor of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on Elliot in the 2003 New Year’s Honors List.
