Ashraf AboArafe
Today, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to the Arab Republic of Egypt organized a celebration on the occasion of the “International Day of Women in Diplomacy”, which falls on the twenty-fourth of June 2023 AD, in the presence of His Excellency Ambassador Khaled Manzalawi, Assistant Secretary-General for International Political Affairs of the League of Arab States, and His Excellency Dr. Naima Al-Qaseer, Director of the Regional Office of the World Health Organization in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the participation of female diplomatic colleagues at the embassy, at the embassy’s headquarters in Cairo.
In his speech on this occasion, the Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Osama bin Ahmed Noqli, commended the role of the Kingdom as a primary sponsor for the adoption of this day in the United Nations, expressing his feeling of pride and honor for the qualitative leap that the Kingdom witnessed in empowering Saudi women, under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and Sir His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister – may God protect them both – based on a policy fueled by the will and determination of the Saudi woman, relied on by her competence and high professionalism, and guiding the ambition of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 AD, so that the reality tells us the effective participation of the daughter of the homeland in all fields and at all levels, the last of which was The Saudi Arab Muslim astronaut, Rayana Barnawi, who, with the ambition and perseverance of Saudi women, reached the sky.
Noqli continued: “As we celebrate the International Women’s Day in Diplomacy, we proudly evoke an exceptional event in 2019 by appointing Her Royal Highness Princess Rima bint Bandar bin Sultan as the first female ambassador to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in the diplomatic corps of the Kingdom, to represent the country’s female ambassadors in successively. For a short period of time, in four countries, in addition to representing the Kingdom as a permanent representative to the European Union and UNESCO, and as a regional director for the Middle East in the International Tourism Organization, in light of fruitful and constructive efforts aimed at serving the country, strengthening the bonds of its bilateral relations in the service of common interests, and strengthening The Kingdom’s constructive presence in international organizations and bodies.”
Concluding his speech, Ambassador Osama Naqli saluted Saudi women for their confident steps towards contributing to their development path, and Gulf, Arab and Muslim women, and women of the world for their fruitful and constructive contributions at the national, regional and international levels.
