Saudi Arabia and representatives of nine other Gulf and Arab states discussed measures to protect their students studying abroad on scholarships from extremist organizations attempting to recruit them for suicide bombings and terrorist activities. The discussions took place in a consultative meeting held Friday in Manama of cultural attachés of member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Representatives of Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Sudan were also in attendance. The Saudi ambassador to Bahrain, Abdullah Al-Sheikh, said Qatar’s absence at the meeting was due to the absence of a cultural mission of Qatar in Manama.

Representatives at the meeting said that students studying abroad are well aware of the current threat of terrorism and quite capable of distinguishing right from wrong. Al-Sheikh said 1,200 students and 250 teachers are currently located in Bahrain. He said these students are intellectually and socially advanced, allowing them to be able to differentiate between beneficial and harmful actions.