The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to US Prince Turki Al-Faisal attended here yesterday the graduation ceremony of the 17th batch of graduates (34 male and female students) of the Washington-based Saudi Islamic Academy for the academic year of 1427 A.H. Speaking on the occasion, the Academy's Director General Abdullah bin Ibraheem Al-Shabnan highlighted the Academy's achievements ever since its establishment, pointing out that all graduates of the 17th batch had been accepted in prominent Arab and American universities. Al-Shabnan also noted the support to the Academy, which enabled it to provide the best educational services to Saudis, Arabs and Muslims in the US. After that, the audience watched a video display about the Academy's activities in various educational, cultural, social and sports fields throughout the academic year. Then, Prince Turki Al-Faisal delivered a speech in which he conveyed the greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and his Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz pointing out to the role of the late King Fahd bin Abdulaziz in establishing the Saudi Islamic Academy and other educational institutes. He also highlighted the efforts of Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz to support the Academy. Prince Turki Al-Faisal expressed his pleasure, urging the graduates to be a friendship bridge between the Kingdom and the US, to hold onto Islamic doctrine, to commit to regular daily prayers and to serve the home-country and humanity. Following that, he handed the certificates to the graduates who included Saudi, Yemeni, Egyptian, Sudanese, Palestinian and Jordanian male and female students. Princess Nouf bint Khaled bin Mohammad, the Saudi Ambassador's wife, attended the Academy's kindergarten ceremony earlier Saturday in the presence of the kindergarten Director Fareedah Turkistani.
