JEDDAH, 24 October 2007 — Finnish President Tarja Halonen, who is on a state visit to the Kingdom, yesterday morning visited King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU) where she was welcomed by Osama Al-Tayeb, dean of the university.
Al-Tayeb said he hoped the visit would enforce the academic and scientific cooperation between the Kingdom and Finland.
The Finnish president met women students from the university and other colleges, who had come to KAAU to listen to Halonen speak about the challenges women face in every society and how they can achieve their goals.
“If equal opportunities are given to both genders, women could achieve better because they always have the ambition to succeed,” Halonen said.
The Finnish premier asked the students about their views on various topics and inquired what they aspire to do once they finish their studies. A medical student answered that she hopes to work for the Ministry of Health and participate in making decisions for the Kingdom’s betterment.
Dr. Jamila Farsi, a dentistry professor at KAAU, said students in Finland are known to be outstanding and asked what the secret behind this is. “We do not only pay attention to those who are outstanding, but we are concerned with those who are not very good. We try to know the reasons behind that before working on improving them to reach the standard of their peers,” Halonen said.
The president handed the university a book about Finland as a gift, while the university’s art students gave her a painting of Old Jeddah called “Old Visions of Jeddah.”
Halonen was elected the first woman president of her country in 2000. She had previously served as Finaland’s minister of foreign affairs.
