The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Brunei Darussalam yesterday hosted a reception in conjunction with the 85th National Day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at The Rizqun International Hotel in Gadong.

Present as guest of honour was Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman, Minister of Religious Affairs.

Hisham bin Abdul Wahab bin Zar'ah, the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Brunei Darussalam, in his speech said, "Saudi Arabia has drafted a national transformation programme at a cost of 270 billion riyals in five years to activate and improve the internal government's performance to formulate its political transformation as well as to activate and improve its foreign policy toward its hostile countries.

"It is a programme that is also expected, to save the spending at the national transformation level by 10 times."

He then mentioned the role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in combating and dismantling terrorism and extremism in their attempt to undermine the nation's security or that of the citizens and residents.

The ambassador then pointed out that, "The formation of 35 Islamic countries of the Islamic Military Coalition to counter terror with its headquarters in Riyadh was a result of sincere efforts supported by a genuine desire to counter the extremist and outlaw groups in all their forms and -its thoughts of whatsoever nature according to the capabilities of each country and the abilities its country's terror compact forces to be engaged in the fight against terrorism and in deterring terrorist organisations through military coordination as a single force."

He praised Allah the Almighty and Saudi Arabia for the successful organisation and managing of the Haj.

"The Haj concluded a few days ago with exceptional and unprecedented success where masses of pilgrimages were not disturbed as there has been no report of any incident to any of the nearly two million people thanks to the intensive efforts of authorities responsible for the security and safety of the pilgrims," he said.

He then announced that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is currently the third donor country with special focus to the areas of humanitarian aid, relief and development.

The kingdom has received two and half million Syrian citizens since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis as well as 500 thousand Yemeni citizens with the right of freedom of movement.

Admission to free schooling was given to more than 141,000 Syrian and 285,000 Yemeni students.

"Only recently the kingdom paid $42 million dollars to Yemeni refugees in Djibouti and Somalia and only a few days ago, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia announced the commitment of the kingdom to pay an additional US 75 million in coordination with international organisations to support the refugees," said the ambassador.

He congratulated the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and his sincere crown prince and the deputy crown prince as well as the rest of the royal family and the Saudi people, for the national day anniversary and successful Haj season.

To conclude his speech he then expressed his appreciation to the Government of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam for brotherly relations between both countries.

The speech was followed by a ceremonial cake cutting by the guest of honour and the ambassador together with invited guests.

The dinner reception yesterday was attended by other senior government officials, various diplomats from foreign missions in the country and other invited guests.

The reception began with the singing of the national anthems of both countries and the recitation of verses from the Al-Quran.

Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM

by BruDirect.com

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