In Sendoff Ceremony, Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir
Describes Arab Youth as "Our Most Precious Resource"

Washington, DC- A delegation of young Arab professionals is wrapping up a three-week visit to the United States as part of the Arab American Business Fellowship (AABF) program. In a sendoff ceremony at the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, H.E. Adel Al-Jubeir, the Kingdom’s Ambassador to the United States, said, "We are pleased and honored to host this delegation of young professionals from the region. Our youth are our most precious resource. They are our future, and they will help to guide us in the decades to come." Also participating in the sendoff ceremony was H.E. Houda Ezra Nonoo, Bahrain’s Ambassador to the United States.

The 12 delegates are part of Young Arab Leaders (YAL), a regionally-based organization dedicated to creating a network of young professionals to serve as positive change agents in the Arab world. The U.S. partners for the Business Fellowship program include Business for Diplomatic Action (New York), the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce (Washington DC), and the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy (Des Moines, Iowa). The program includes a two-way exchange, so for the past three weeks, nine young professionals from the United States have been touring business facilities in the Arab world.

In opening remarks at the sendoff ceremony, David Hamod, President & CEO of the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, noted, "The tragedy of September 11, 2001 was a turning point in U.S.-Arab relations. That event changed the way Americans look at the world, but it also changed the way that the world looks at us. People-to-people programs like this one are helping to restore confidence and create new relationships between our two cultures."

Keith Reinhard, President of Business for Diplomatic Action, said that "personal exchange – people meeting people – is the single best way to shatter negative stereotypes and unhelpful preconceptions. The world of business represents a territory rich in opportunity for building bridges of personal understanding and respect."

Ann Schodde, Executive Director of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, quoted Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. She read, "The water in the clouds has the unlimited shape of what is left to us of the sky. And other things of suspended memories reveal that this morning is powerful and splendid, and that we are the guests of eternity."

The Arab & American Business Fellowship is an exciting program bringing "fast track" executives from leading Arab companies to the United States to learn about American business, society, and culture -- and to share with American counterparts their insights, knowledge and contacts for doing business successfully in the Middle East. This year’s Fellows come from a diverse slice of the Arab world, with nationals and/or residents of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, widely regarded as the voice of American business in the Arab world for the past four decades, is in touch with business communities across the United States and serves as the U.S. point of contact for the national chambers of commerce in the 22 Arab nations. On a daily basis, NUSACC works closely with leaders throughout the Arab world, as well as high-level decision makers in the U.S. business community, public policy research centers ("think tanks"), multilateral institutions, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), media, and the U.S. Government.