The Saudi embassy in Washington received here on Tuesday U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Maura Harty. The reception was attended by cultural attaches of embassies of Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and a number of Saudi students studying in the United States of America. The meeting focused on facilitating entry visas into the United States for Saudi students in particular and GCC students in general. Harty stressed that the United States is open to all and has been welcoming all students wishing to study in its universities and institutes, pointing in this regard to statements of U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She pointed out that the State Department has taken a host of measures aiming at facilitating and accelerating the granting of visas to students and others wishing to come to the United States of America. The Assistant Secretary noted that these measures are facilitated and developed by using modern electronic technologies, a matter which led to the reduction of waiting periods from up to 3 months to utmost 2 weeks. She indicated that the State Department is working on bringing back travel visas for Middle East citizens to normal soon. --More 2242 Local Time 1942 GMT
