United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia John Abizaid has extoled the historical relationship between his country and the kingdom, confirming during an interview with Ajel's deputy editor in chief Farhan El-Farhoud that the embassy are working to ease the process of the US visa to the Saudi students.
"In many ways when people think of the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, they think about the oil and think about security but really the cornerstone of the relationship is the education," Abizaid said when he was asked about the scientist and cultural interaction between the Saudi and America societies.
"Everywhere I go in the kingdom I find people had have been educated inthe United States,"
"I find Saudi ministers know the sings of Michigan State fight song,"the US ambassador added.
"Everywhere I go people educated in the United States are in positionsof responsibility, position of importance, they are leading the country forwardand we want to continue the relationship,"
"Hundreds of thousands of Saudis have been educated in the United States,its forms the backbone of technocratic elite that has led the transformation inas they move forward towards the vision of 2030,"
"Today there is over 40 thousand Saudis studying in the United Statesand we are very proud to have that many there and we want more to come,"
The US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia promised to change the ongoing one-wayeducation exchange to two-way as he will provide scholarships for Americans toarrive Saudi Arabia to study here this year.
"We haven't done and we will do in conjunction with the 75th anniversaryis bring more Americans to Saudi Arabia to study in your great universities,"
"We are very excited to offer scholarship to Americans to come here thisyear in order to be able to study here,"
"We hope over time that we just enough have a one way sort of educationexchange but a two way where American study in Saudi Arabia and verse,"
The US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia revealed that there a lot ofscholarship programs are available for the Saudi Arabians as it is not only forthe University study as it's also allow students to study in the secondaryschools.
"There are many programs forSaudi students to study in the United States and there are so many programsthat one really needs to do some research or attend to the embassy to know it'savailability," the US Ambassador said.
The US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia appreciated the question of does the Saudi Arabia's tourism attract theattention of the American tourists after the great development in the kingdomrelated to this field, confirming
"That's a great question, as for so many years Saudi Arabia is notopened to tourists and the casual visitors,"
"But now as we look for with the vision of 2030 tourism is now top ofthe list, the opportunities for the people to come here and look and see andunderstand is really important,"
"Now you can come and see great places like Al-Ula and beautifulmountains in the southern side of the Saudi Arabia," the US ambassador added.
Aramco's brilliant future
The US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia has praised the performance of SaudiAramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, confirming that it is one ofthe largest companies in the world by revenue.
"I am not a stock market professional and I am not a financialprofessional I am an ambassador all what I want to say that Saudi Arabia hasthe world most valuable company which is known as Aramco and it is doing verywell,"
"I can only imagine that Saudi Aramco opportunity going increase people who want to invest for it, as it's an excellent company and excellent leadership," Ambassador John Abizaid said.
