HONG KONG, 1 October 2004 — On Sept. 23, Saudi embassies and consulates around the world hosted National Day celebrations to bring the Kingdom’s culture and heritage closer to the local communities where they are based. In Hong Kong, the Saudi Arabian consulate has been open just a little more than a year, but the local business community was eagerly anticipating the National Day event.
More than 500 residents of Hong Kong came to the Hong Kong Country Club where Saudi Consul General Alaudeen A. Alaskary, and his team, supported by Saudi Aramco and Saudi Arabian Airlines hosted a reception on the lawn. The weather cooperated so that a lovely buffet could be held under the stars. While most of the food on offer was standard international fare, two barbecued sheep were eagerly sampled by the guests and amazingly, far, far from home, one table groaned under the weight of homemade basbousa, matazeez, hareesa, mashee, sambousa, kouba, kabbab and stuffed cabbage. Out of the goodness of their hearts, five Saudi ladies living in Hong Kong had cooked for days to make such an experience possible. Guests also were able to try traditional Saudi coffee and dates flown in from the Kingdom for the occasion.
Saudi Arabia opened a consulate in Hong Kong last year on July 24. Alaskary and his team had the mission operational by October. While it is a small consulate, its focus on business is clear. One-third of the consulate has been turned into a business center equipped with modern computerized data management technologies. An economist will be stationed at the business center soon to begin making proposals on possible business opportunities to Hong Kong, Chinese and Saudi entrepreneurs. In addition the consulate will be launching a Chinese/English website shortly to facilitate communication and visa applications.
“The reason the Saudi government opened this consulate is because of the importance of Hong Kong as a gateway to China. As well as it is really the gateway to the whole Far East as a financial center and as a business center,” Alaskary said. “We decided that we had to introduce Saudi Arabia to Hong Kong and also introduce Hong Kong to Saudi Arabia. To fulfill that mission we chose to concentrate mainly on three areas: Culture, education and business. Why in this order? We believe if we understand each other and each other’s culture, then we can cooperate better with each other and we can have more trust in dealing with each other. If there is a lack of trust, then business usually doesn’t move forward — even if it is very attractive.”
In the last year Alaskary and the other Saudi staff at the consulate have gone around to all the universities in Hong Kong and introduced them to Saudi Arabia and the Saudi universities. It is hoped that an exchange program can be launched soon between Saudi and Hong Kong educational institutions. Alaskary also worked to open a section at Hong Kong University to teach Arabic.
“The teachers in this new program have been recruited from Hong Kong,” he explained. “The books came from Saudi Arabia and the finances to open such a program came from Saudi businessman Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid. In all our actions here at the consulate we are following the wishes of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, that we must get the private sector involved in spreading and helping to promote Saudi culture. This is not just a governmental responsibility.”
Business relations with Hong Kong are moving rapidly forward. The South China Morning Post featured a supplement for the Saudi National Day supported by large advertisers such as Pricerite, SABIC, and ExxonMobil, plus more than a dozen smaller local advertisers. Alaskary said that the protocol between Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong is about to be signed which will allow Saudi Arabian Airlines to have direct flights to Hong Kong from the Kingdom. He hopes that this will encourage an even greater number of business exchanges.
In addition to enhancing business relationships, strengthening ties with the Muslim community in Hong Kong is also a priority for Alaskary.
“Saudi Arabia has provided the Muslim community here with a small amount of finance for mosque repair and they have also asked for financing to build a new mosque in the New Territories where the land was given to them by the Hong Kong Authorities,” the consul general said. “They want to build a big mosque there which will be able to accommodate up to 10,000 worshippers. We are also interested to help in building new schools. There are schools for Qur’an, Hadith and religious learning, but it’s all in Urdu, not in Arabic. We would like to offer alternatives.”
Alaskary has been visiting the Muslim schools and Muslim community centers in Hong Kong where he discusses with community leaders the importance of the Muslim community acting together.
“We are a minority in Hong Kong,” he said. “There are only about 120,000 Muslims here out of a population of six million, so we need to act as one hand and be true Muslims. If there are any differences between us, let that be between God and us. But Muslims should act in a uniform manner. For example, we should start Ramadan on the same date and celebrate Eid together. We should be in agreement on the start of Haj.”
The consulate has been issuing Umrah visas since last Ramadan to Muslims from Hong Kong, Macau and China. Due to certain international regulations in regards to quotas for Haj, the Saudi Consulate in Hong Kong cannot issue Haj permits to Chinese Muslims who must take such permits from the Saudi Embassy in Beijing. The consulate is also facilitating the issuance of visas for businessmen wanting to come to the Kingdom. Alaskary emphasized that his instructions from the foreign minister are to make the process for applying for the business visa simple and that most businessmen in Hong Kong receive the Saudi business visa in one day, if not one hour.
The last year has not been an easy one for this outgoing consul general. He has constantly had to face questions about terrorism in the Kingdom. He said that he takes such queries in stride and tries to keep both himself and his team on message, promoting all the positive interactions possible between the people of Hong Kong and China and the Saudi people.
“In our presentations we tell people the truth,” Alaskary advised. “The fact is that you are more safe walking down the streets of any city in Saudi Arabia than you are walking down the streets of New York City after 10 o’clock at night. ‘Come, let’s do some business,’ I say. ‘Saudi Arabia welcomes you.’”
