Shoura slams Foreign Min for mediocre performance

Suad Al-Shamrani RIYADH — Shoura Council members have lambasted the Foreign Ministry for not doing enough to improve the Kingdom's image abroad. While discussing its annual report on Tuesday, the members asked for transferring the department of external information from the Ministry of Culture and Information to the Foreign Ministry to confront the ferocious campaign against the Kingdom by foreign media. Prince Khaled Al-Saud, a member, asked the ministry about the fate of the 15,000 lawsuits against Saudi tourists and students abroad, of which 37 percent were cases of sexual harassment. He said the ministry should have enlightened the Saudis going out about the customs and traditions of the people in countries they visit so that they avoid committing any misdemeanors. "The ministry could have saved about SR10 million it had spent on foreign lawyers to defend Saudi tourists abroad if it had enlightened them about the customs and traditions in the countries they visit beforehand," he said. Faiz Al-Shihri criticized the ministry for not updating its Internet website for more than seven years. "The site refers to the late Prince Saud Al-Faisal as if he is still alive," he said. Saud Al-Shammari criticized the ministry for appointing former ministers and retired military men as ambassadors. "The former ministers and retired military men should not constitute more than 10 percent of the diplomatic corps in the worst case scenario. The ambassadors should be career diplomats," he said. Sadaqa Fadil asked the ministry to prepare a study on the migration of Saudis to some foreign countries. "About a million Saudis, constituting about 5 percent of the country's population, have migrated," he said. He asked the ministry to brief the council about their conditions and the reasons behind their migration. Muna Al-Mushait, a female member, asked about the absence of the information center on women from the report. She said the center, established about two years ago, should have benefited the ministry from the qualified women cadres.