JEDDAH, 14 January 2005 — A permanent exhibit of 24 poster-size photographs along the theme “Americana” was inaugurated recently by US Ambassador James Oberwetter. The exhibits are on display in the public reception area of the US Embassy’s Consular Section in Riyadh.
The images are from all over America, ranging from New York to California and places in between. The photographs were taken in 2003-2004 by a cross-section of American photographers.
The inauguration served as an occasion to focus on Saudi-American educational exchanges. In his remarks, Ambassador Oberwetter underlined the fact that hundreds of Saudis are graduates of US universities, military and research institutes and encouraged those alumni to send their children to study in America. He also stressed that, contrary to popular perception, US visas are not impossible to obtain.
Oberwetter noted that far from impossible, measures to improve the application and processing time for visas had been effective and has reduced the waiting time for visas. “Specifically with respect to Saudi Arabia, this embassy is now able to issue two-thirds of all visas within one week, down from one month just a year ago,” he added.
The ambassador introduced the student advising center, located nearby, to the guests at the reception. “We encourage international students to take part in our educational system,” he said, quoting President George Bush. “The relationships that are formed between individuals from different countries as part of international education programs and exchanges foster goodwill that develops into vibrant, mutually beneficial partnerships among nations.”
One source of the misconception may have been the charge that post-9/11 visa requirements denied young Arabs access to American colleges and education and was made by the authors of the “Arab Human Development Report,” published in October 2003. It was prepared by respected Arab researchers under the auspices of the UN Development Program.
The report accused the Bush administration of “extreme” counterterrorism policies that “led to the erosion of civil and political liberties ... diminishing the welfare of Arabs and Muslims living, studying or traveling abroad.”
The result, it argues, was “cutting off knowledge acquisition opportunities for young Arabs.”
The effect of these policies, the report claimed, was “an average 30 percent drop in Arab student enrollment in US colleges and universities between 1999 and 2002.”
