Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has praised the instrumental role of the Honorary Consul-General of the Republic of Cyprus in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohamed Abdulkader Al Fadi, in deepening relations between the two countries.
Anastasiades, who is on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, the first Cypriot President to pay such a visit, delivered a speech on Wednesday at a decoration ceremony in Riyadh, during which he bestowed on Mohamed Abdulkader Al Fadl, the «Medal of Outstanding Contribution» of the Republic, as a token of recognition and gratitude for his invaluable work of close to two decades in furthering relations between the Republic of Cyprus and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The President said that Al Fadl has a long and distinguished career in business, starting from the time of his studies at the University of San Francisco, to becoming, through hard and dedicated work, the Chairman of the Al Fadl Group and Horizon Investment Company.
“You have taken upon you the challenge of becoming Cyprus’s Honorary Consul in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a task fraught with the difficulty that you operated, until very recently, without a resident diplomatic mission. And yet, you worked tirelessly and effectively in order to promote Cyprus relations with Saudi Arabia“, he said, according to a press release, issued by the Presidency.
The President noted that the Consul’s contribution in addressing and resolving issues related to the Cypriot community in the Kingdom all these years, the promotion of tourism and business relations “have been nothing short of invaluable“.
“For all you have done, my dear Mohamed, the Government and the people of Cyprus are truly grateful to you“, he said.
In the past few years, Anastasiades said, “we have made strides in furthering relations between Cyprus and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia“. He referred to the establishment of Cyprus` diplomatic mission in Riyadh, and his official visit which he described as an historic visit “in light of the fact that it is the first official visit in Saudi Arabia“. He added that all these “mark a milestone in the relations between our two countries“.
In his address the President underlined that Cyprus wishes to contribute, including through its numerous Cypriot companies have been successfully operating in the Kingdom for years, to Saudi Arabia’s transformational “Vision 2030”.