Charge d’Affaires Fahad Almutairi of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Seoul hosted a luncheon reception at the spacious Dynasty Hall of Hotel Shilla in Seoul on Sept. 30, 2015 to celebrate the 85th National Day of Saudi Arabia.
It was attended by many distinguished Korean and international guests as well as the chiefs of foreign missions in Seoul.

The Korean guests included Minister Chung Chin-youb of Health and Welfare and representatives of the business, media and various other public organizations, including Chairman & CEO Kim Kyung-hae BK Communications and Publisher-Chairman Lee Kyung-sik of The Korea Post.

From the Seoul Diplomatic Corps came many mission chiefs who included Ambassadors Derragui Mohammed Elamine of Algeria, Ramzi Teymurov of Azerbaijan, Md. Zulfiqur Rahman of Bangladesh, Natallia Jhylevich of Belarus, Dato Paduka Haji Modh Rosli Bin Haji Sabtu of Brunei Darussalam , Petar Andonov of Bulgaria, Grecia Fiodalicia Pichardo of Dominican Republic, Mohamed Abdi Gello of Kenya, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi of Kuwait, Otman S. Saad Ahbara of Libya, Dato Rohana binti Ramli of Malaysia, Mohammed Chraibi of Morocco, Mohamed Salim Alharthy of Oman, Zahid Nasrulah Khan of Pakistan, Raul S. Hernandez of the Philippines, Krzysztof Majka of Poland, Mohammed Bin Abdalla Obaid Al-Dohaimi of Qatar, Alexander Andreevich Tomonin of Russia, Yip Wei Kiat of Singapore, Gonzalo Ortiz Diaz-Tortosa of Spain, Kiromov Salohiddin of Tajikistan (CDA), Mohamed Ali Nafti of Tunisia, Abdulla Khalfan Alromaithi of the United Arab Emirates, Botirjon Asadov of Uzbekistan and Mumba Smyth Kapumpa of Zambia.
There were many other international dignitaries, some of whom might have been ambassadors, but who were not readily identifiable.
One distinction of the reception from other National Day functions of the different countries was a special space in one corner of the ballroom furnished with expensive carpets and other Arabic furniture including comfortable cushions with arm rests. CDA Almutairi sat there with Minister Chung and conversed with each other through interpreters.
Another distinction was the absence of the usual ceremonial formalities that included the presentation of the national anthems of the two countries, welcome speech and a congratulatory address from a Korean government representative. To many guests, this was very well received because long speeches did not taste as good as the food and beverage that waited to please the guests.

In a written interview with The Korea Post earlier, Charge d’Affaires Fahad Almutairi remarked on the fast-growing relations between his country and Korea.
He said: “More than fifty years have passed since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea in 1962 and during the past five decades, the Saudi-Korea relations have witnessed a qualitative leap, and amazing developments that have extended to all aspects of political, economic, cultural, education, military and health fields.” Then he said that such developments are responsive to policies and principles stipulated in mutual agreements, talks, and exchange visits by officials of both countries and that these efforts made the bilateral ties-characterized by sincerity, honesty and commitment-one of the most important international relations within the half-century.

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