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Ambassador Nazer toursNEW SAUDI CULTURAL ATTACHÉPREMISES Pages 4-5

NZ TRADETEAMVISITSTHE 

KINGDOM

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A group of female lecturers from the King AbdulazizUniversity in Jeddah praised the Custodian of the TwoHoly Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz for the ap-preciation he expressed towards the role of Saudi women,and for his political realization of the importance of therole women play in pushing forward the wheel of devel-opment in the country. is praise from the Saudi lecturers came after three fac-ulty members from the King Abdulaziz University tookpart in the 8th National Meeting for Intellectual Dia-logue that was held under the title of ‘Health Services: ADialogue Between Society and the Health Institutions’in Jazan recently. Over 70 male and female participantstook part in the meeting including head of the SheikhMohammed Hussain al Amoudi Centre of Excellencefor Breast Cancer, Dr. Samia al Amoudi, cosmetic surgeryconsultant Dr. Nadia Bandaqji, and cancer researcher Dr.Faten Khorshid. e Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King AbdullahBin Abdulaziz accompanied by Deputy Prime Ministerand Minister of Defense and Aviation and InspectorGeneral of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Crown PrinceSultan Bin Abdulaziz, met with participants of the na-tional dialogue sessions as they spoke to the King aboutthe results. e female participants took part in a separatemeeting with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Regarding the meeting, Dr. Samia al Amoudi stated thatKing Abdullah was making history by consolidating therole of women and expressing appreciation for the role

“King Abdullah was making history by con-solidating the role of women and express-ing appreciation for the role women playand that the world realizes that the leadersare writing history through the dialogue inwhich women took part in order to pushon with development for the sake of thenation.”

Dr. Samia Amoudi

Centre of Excellence for Breast Cancer

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

women play and that the world realizes that the leaders arewriting history through the dialogue in which women tookpart in order to push on with development for the sake ofthe nation.

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e largest ever business delegation to visit the Middle Eastfrom New Zealand has toured Riyadh this month in a bidto reinforce and expand trade relationships between thetwo countries.e delegation, led by New Zealand’s Minister of TradeTim Groser, was composed of over 90 business leaders rep-resenting 60 major companies. ey worked to capitalizeon the solid growth and economic modernization takingplace throughout the region.While on tour, Mr. Tim Groser has told a business meetingat the Riyadh Chambers Of Commerce And Industry, inSaudi Arabia that gaining and protecting access to new anddeveloping markets is a central pillar to the government'seconomic strategy.Tim Groser says trade is the lifeblood of the New Zealandeconomy and as a somewhat isolated island nation ourbusinesses need to look offshore for new markets.Groser says while New Zealand's recent focus has beenlargely on the Asia-Pacific region, the Gulf region is rapidlyemerging as a strong partner for export growth.Groser says e developing trading relationship betweenNew Zealand and GCC has been enhanced by cooperationat the Government level. He also says that the Gulf is emerging strongly from theglobal recession after two decades of economic transfor-mation. Oil windfalls of 2003-08 have been investedshrewdly and are leading to increasingly diversifiedeconomies, says Groser.“Since Saudi students attending New Zealand tertiary in-

stitutions under the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme(KASP) began in 2006, numbers have risen from just ahandful to more than 7,000 Saudi students studying inNew Zealand today - of these over 4,700 are at tertiary in-stitutions. Conservatively, this is worth some NZ$300 mil-lion annually to the New Zealand economy” .Groser says our orientation toward our close neighboursAustralia and the wider Asia-Pacific region has seen the gov-ernment focusing on negotiating bilateral and regional tradeagreements.“I see an un-paralleled era of opportunity. As a result of thesignificant transformation in this part of the world and thediversification of oil-based economies, this region is lookingto the West to help facilitate this transformation. At pre-cisely the same time, countries such as New Zealand arelooking to the Middle East to diversify our own economies.e potential for collaboration has never been greater."Groser and the business delegation also visited Riyadh andDammam before visiting Bahrain, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi andDubai.

Prince Saud Al-Faisal with New Zealand TradeMinister Mr Tim Groser, whom he met withwhile in Saudi Arabia

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e Ambassador of the Custodianof the Two Holy Mosques in Aus-tralia and New Zealand Mr. Has-san Talat Nazer, accompanied byembassy staff and all its membersmade an inspection tour of theNew premises building of theSaudi Cultural Attaché which hasmoved into a new headquarters inthe center of Australian capitalCanberra, nearby the campus ofthe Australian National Univer-sity.

e new building is located on an area of2000 square meters, and has two main sto-ries, with room for more than 195 staffmembers, as well as 3 meeting rooms, in ad-dition to a special reception hall for femalestudents where qualified female staff carrieson the needs of students.During the tour, Nazer was accompanied bySaudi Cultural Attaché Dr. Ali Al Bishri.While on the tour, Mr Nazer was briefed onthe office services for Saudi students and also

Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Australia H.E Hassan Nazer

Ambassador Hassan Nazer with Saudi Cultural Attaché Dr Ali Al Bishriand Rida El Nuzha at the new cultural attaché premises

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Saudi Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand

Hassan Tala'at Nazer has been awarded an Australian

Harmony Day 2010 Award in recognition of his con-

sistent efforts and role in promoting harmony and

values of dialog between communities in Australian

society. Ambassador Nazer expressed his pleasure

over receiving the prize, stressing that the initiatives

launched by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz topped by Initiative of

Dialogue Between Followers of Religions and Cul-

tures have formed a framework for communication

between peoples and a major pillar in promoting

human values, dialogue and harmony at global level.

on the large facilities provided by the Saudi Ministry of HigherEducation which were to serve Saudi students on Scholarshipin Australia including the Custodian of the Two HolyMosques program for foreign scholarships.e building also hosts state of the art equipment inorder tokeep up with the development of the attaché and to meet min-

istry officials' aspirations of a distinguished levelof service.Ambassador Nazer praised the facility of thenewly built premises which allows for the em-bassy to facilitate services for a greater numberof Saudi students on scholarships to Australia farmore effectively and promptly. e Ambassador thanked "God Almighty andthe Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques KingAbdullah bin Abdulaziz for implementing thescholarship program, which facilitated an easymeans for students to get scholarships abroad inseveral countries throughout the world."At the end of the visit, the Ambassador alsothanked the Cultural attaché Mr Rida Nuzhaand members of the Attaché for their efforts to-wards the benfites of the Saudi students andtheir needs.

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According to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, thegovernment’s economic development agency, the GulfCooperation Council (GCC) region as a whole is anincreasingly important contributor to New Zealand’seconomic prosperity. Trade between New Zealand andthe GCC totaled over $2.1 billion last year — a 40percent increase since 2000 — making the GCC NewZealand’s sixth largest bilateral trading partner.Saudi Arabia is currently New Zealand’s largest exportmarket within the Middle East. Bilateral trade betweenthe two nations amounted to over $530 million in2009, representing a quarter of total trade betweenNew Zealand and the GCC region.“e importance of this region for New Zealand can-not be underestimated and our visit to Saudi Arabiademonstrates our depth of commitment to this mar-ket. e growing relationship between our nationspresents valuable commercial opportunities for bothNew Zealand and Saudi companies, with the potentialto develop a stronger and more diversified presence inboth markets,” said the New Zealand Trade ministerMr. Tim Groser, “is is a unique chance for New Zealand businessleaders to demonstrate to local partners here thebreadth of expertise that we can offer and to expandthe existing economic relationships within Saudi Ara-bia.”Another significant development in the relationship

between the two countries is the establishment of a new SaudiConsulate in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, reflecting thegrowing number of students in the country, which currentlystands at around 5,500 annually.Government-led initiatives such as the GCC business mission aimto broaden the trade relationship with Saudi Arabia by developingsuch sectors as education and services, construction, ICT, foodand drink, as well as investigating new opportunities for trade andinvestment.

Nazer praises NZ-

Saudi Arabia

trade meetings“The Kingdom now represents the largest market in

the Middle East and Gulf for New Zealand exports”,

Saudi Ambassador to New Zealand and Australia Has-

san Tal’at Nazer, has said.

The trade exchange between the two countries

amounted to more than $530 million in 2009 which

constituted 25 percent of the total trade between

New Zealand and Gulf countries.

Following the Saudi-New Zealand ministerial commit-

tee meetings in Riyadh, the ambassador said such

meetings further strengthen the friendly bilateral rela-

tions and commercial cooperation between the two

countries.

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e Saudi Ambassador in Australia, Mr. Hassan Nazerwelcome the possibility of resumption of importingAustralian wheat into the Kingdom. Ambassador Nazersaid Australia would be one of key participants in a ten-der conducted by the Saudi Arabia’s Grains Silos andFlour Mills Organisation to import two million tonnesof wheat this year. e Kingdom has modified its wheat-import quality specifications allowing imports fromAustralia, the world's fourth-largest exporter of thegrain, the Australian Embassy announced.e latest Saudi tender had a minimum 11.1 percentprotein level compared with a minimum last year of 12.5percent. e tolerance level for the ergot fungus wasraised to 0.045 percent."e new amendments to the requirements allow lowerprotein levels and a smaller tolerance for ergot fungus,"Michael Kavanagh, commercial counselor of the em-bassy said.He added that the new changes would permit wheatfrom western Australia, the country's top grain-export-ing region, to take part in tenders issued by Saudi Ara-bia's Grains Silos and Flour Mills Organization(GSFMO).After visiting Western Australia’s wheat mills in Marchthis year, GSFMO has expressed to the Australian Agri-culture and Food Minister Terry Redman a high interestfor Australia to become a regular supplier of wheat. WAwas already a major supplier of barley to Saudi Arabia.

During the delegation’s tour of WA, the Department ofAgriculture and Food research team showed how Australianwheat was highly suitable for milling and baked goods inSaudi Arabia, including flat breads.“While this change in specifications is a first step, it is a sig-nificant one towards developing a strong wheat trading re-lationship with the kingdom,” the Minister said.“I congratulate all involved from the Department of Agri-culture and Food and the grains industry who have workedhard to improve access to the Saudi market.” Australia has been unable to access the 2.5 million tons ayear to the Saudi market. e state produced 8 million tonsof wheat in 2009/10. Western Australia is already a majorsupplier of barley to Saudi Arabia.e Kingdom opened its doors to wheat imports in 2008when it introduced a new groundwater conservation policyto cut annual irrigated wheat production. It also has plans tostop growing wheat domestically by spring 2016, and importthe grain instead."Australian shippers competed in a Saudi Arabia tender thismonth for 550,000 metric tons, with suppliers from Canadaand Germany winning the business," said Tom Puddy, wheatmarketing manager for CBH Group's export division. A global glut of wheat this year has increased price compe-tition.e Middle Eastern country may import two milliontons in 2010-11, according to a report last month by theUSDA's Foreign Agricultural Service.

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The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has begunbuilding the first solar-powered water desali-nation plant, the first step in a three-part pro-

gram to introduce solar energy into the Kingdom. eprogram, launched by the King Abdulaziz City forScience and Technology (KACST), aims to help sta-bilize future power and water supplies inside SaudiArabia through the creation of solar-powered desali-nation facilities.Water desalination is critical to providing clean drink-ing water around the world. Today, Saudi Arabia pro-duces 18 percent of the world’s desalinated water. Bybuilding water desalination plants that run on solarenergy, the Kingdom can reduce operational costs andin turn, reduce consumer costs.

Prince Dr. Turki bin Saud bin Mohammad, KACST VicePresident for Research Institutes said, “e solar energyprogram will reduce the cost of producing desalinatedwater and of generating power for use in the Kingdom, anoil-dependent nation, which has launched a national en-ergy efficiency program."Saudi Arabia is a prime location to harness solar energybecause of its year-round sunshine. e sun in Saudi Ara-bia emits about 7,000 watts of energy per square meterover an average of 12 hours every day. KACST and IBMhave developed a research center to determine how best toharness and repurpose this solar energy and is preparingto implement this state-of-the-art technology.

Prince Dr. Turki bin Saud bin Mohammad, KACST Vice

President for Research Institutes