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Ulster To Honour Saudi Prince For Promoting Better Islamic-Western Relations

16 September 2010

The University of Ulster is to confer an honorary doctorate on HRH Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud of Saudi Arabia for his services to diplomatic and international relations.

The Prince will receive his Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) at a special ceremony in Jordanstown on 28 September.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard Barnett said the University was honouring Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud in recognition of his particular efforts to foster better relations between the West and Saudi Arabia.
 
“The Prince has held a number of key diplomatic posts, serving as the Saudi Ambassador to the UK and Republic of Ireland and later as the country’s Ambassador to the United States,” Professor Barnett said.
 
“He is a skilled diplomat and has carried out considerable work to promote strong Saudi-Western relations post-the 9-11 attacks and is a commissioner of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.
 
“HRH Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud has also had a key role in promoting greater understanding between different faiths as well as Western and Muslim nations.
 
“As the co-chair of the C-100 Group along with the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey – an affiliate of the World Economic Forum involving key figures in business, religion, media, academia and other opinion leaders – he has made a significant contribution to encouraging dialogue.
 
“As one of the founders and a member of the Board of Trustees to the King Faisal Foundation, he has also recognised those who foster greater understanding, awarding the annual King Faisal International Prize in 2009 to Stanford University oncology Professor Roland Levy for his work in fighting cancer.

"He was a classmate of President Bill Clinton at Georgetown University in Washington where he now holds a Visiting Professorship.
 
“The University is delighted to add HRH Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud to its distinguished roll call of honorary graduates.
 
“We are also delighted to welcome his son Prince Faisal to the University, who will be accompanying him on this visit.”
 
Notes to Editors

1.    HRH Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud was born in Makkah, Saudi Arabia in February 1945. He is the youngest son of the late King Faisal by Princess Effat Al-Thuniyyan and is a nephew of the current King Abdullah.

  2.    HRH Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud was educated at the Taif Model Elementary and Intermediate School, Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, The Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University, where he was a classmate of President Bill Clinton, and studied international law and jurisprudence at Princeton, Cambridge and the University of London.

3.    He was appointed as an advisor at the Saudi Royal Court in 1973 and served a number of years in Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Directorate, becoming its Director General in 1979 and serving in that role until shortly before the September 11 attacks in 2001. In this position he had a key role in the military operation to remove hostage-taking terrorists from Masjid-al-Haram (the Sacred Mosque) in Mecca in 1979.

4.    HRH Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud served as Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the UK and Irish and also as his country’s Ambassador to the United States.

5.    He is a founder and member of the Board of Trustees of the King Faisal Foundation and is a chairman of the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh – an independent and not-for-profit organisation promoting and encouraging Islamic heritage and traditions and promoting dialogue and understanding between other religions.

6.    He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and chairs the board of the Prince Charles Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts Centre and is a co-chair of the C100 Group, an affiliate of the World Economic Forum, which promotes interfaith dialogue and greater understanding between the West and Islamic countries.

7.    HRH Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud is also a Visiting Professor of the Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, and  a commissioner at the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation.