R) Muslim Aid CEO Syed Sharfuddin; Deputy British Ambassador Roddy Drummond; Muslim Aid Chairman Sir Iqbal Sacranie; Secretary General of the OIC Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu; Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Amb Atta El-Manan Bakhit; Director of OIC Humanitarian Affairs Fuad Maznaee. (SG photos by Bizzie Frost) BIZZIE FROST FOR Roddy Drummond, the Deputy British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, learning Arabic was extremely difficult: “It was eighteen months of torture!” he remembers. “I studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London and then at the University of Jordan. There were lots of disappointments in that I discovered later that my Arabic doesn't work everywhere, and it has been quite difficult to keep it up, but the rewards have been worth the effort. It has been a revelation at times to see how it has helped open doors in different societies in the region.” After joining the British Foreign Office in 1985, he was attracted to studying Arabic when he saw the variety of jobs that would be available in Middle East if he knew the language. “I had an idea that there were about twenty places that I could work. At the time, I don't think I fully appreciated the diversity of the Middle East. I have since realized that there is a huge difference between the countries in North Africa where I have worked – like Algeria – others such as Jordan, Syria, and the Gulf, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia – they all use a different language. There is also huge diversity and different kinds of people within Saudi Arabia, so my Arabic didn't work everywhere. But the variety that attracted me in the first place has exceeded my expectations.” Having seen the work opportunities in the Middle East, I wondered what Drummond has enjoyed about actually working here. “I like the people,” he said without hesitation. “They are much more open, interesting and welcoming than outsiders realize. You can establish long-term friendships in this region, which is sometimes harder to do in Europe, for example. And it has been continuously stimulating in terms of culture and the diversity, and the politics is also fascinating. There is probably no better time to illustrate this than now when there are a lot of interesting things going on in different parts of the region. So it throws a fresh challenge every few years.” He went on to describe his work in Saudi Arabia: “As the Deputy Ambassador, I do a bit of everything. I work closely with the Ambassador so that both of us can represent our government on all main issues in terms of lobbying, or explaining what our policies are to the press and to Saudi interlocutors. I head the team in the Embassy, I do some trade and investment promotion, I am responsible for Embassy Security budgets, management issues, and help manage the bi-lateral relationship which is very varied in Saudi Arabia. We have a long history with the Kingdom, and there is a huge amount going on in trade and investment, a lot of security cooperation, a big defense relationship, a big education relationship which involves a lot of people exchanges – running a good visa service for example – and so it is pretty varied. We have a lot of projects running at the same time and a lot of visitors coming in – Ministers and senior officials from across the Government, business and civil society in the UK, and they have all got an interest in things here.” Drummond was in Jeddah on a brief visit to attend the signing ceremonies of Memorandums of Understanding between the British NGO, Muslim Aid, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and Muslim Aid and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). “Muslim Aid is a British organization that was founded in 1985 and has developed a lot of expertise in both humanitarian relief for short-term disasters and also longer term development work in different environments around the world,” he explained. “The name may be slightly misleading because their aid is not only to Muslim societies and organizations. They work anywhere, but their code of principals and conduct are governed by Islamic principals. Their core funding comes from the UK but they do project work for a variety of donors – such as IDB.” Drummond pointed out the benefits of these new agreements: “We are very pleased to see a British NGO like Muslim Aid respected, and partnering with both these organizations because there are governments also partnering with the OIC and the IDB. The IDB is very satisfied that Muslim Aid is an efficient organization, has good skills, and operates well in difficult environments. The protocol is now in place to enable it to do projects for the IDB.” The ceremonies were also attended by Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the Chairman of Muslim Aid, and Syed Sharfuddin, the CEO. “They are both very interesting characters. Sir Iqbal is the former head of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, a very well known figure in the British Muslim community and a well-known philanthropist in his own right,” remarked Drummond. “For us, the IDB is a particularly interesting partner because we have large aid programs in many of the same areas, such as Sudan, Yemen and Pakistan. It is important for us to understand what the IDB is doing. We can share ideas so that we are not stepping on each other's toes and do things together in a complimentary fashion.” On the subject of the current unrest sweeping across the Middle East, Drummond feels confident that Saudi Arabia will not be affected. “It is fascinating to see the different events happening in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain, but when you look at them closely, the differences are as striking as the similarities. Each society faces different challenges and I think Saudi Arabia faces some of the same long-term ones such as youth unemployment and how to empower the society in the future, but I don't get any sense that these are immediate concerns here. There are a lot of things that are being tackled through the reform program under King Abdullah with the education and so on.”
