Chair’s Annual Report 2023-24

2023/2024 is our second year of normal operations following the COVID disruptions. At our last AGM we had a lively discussion led by one of our Trustees Najah Al-Otaibi on the emerging arts scene in Saudi Arabia and the role of women. This was a panel discussion featuring another two of our Trustees Intisar Alyamani and Ghadah AlHarthi. Janet Rady, an expert in Islamic art history completed a knowledgeable and engaging panel.

Past reports

Chair’s Annual Report 2022-23

The activity of the Society in 2020 and 2021 was seriously affected by COVID. For 2022/2023 we have mercifully been able to operate normally, and all our activities have been in person. It has been good to get together again as the Society exists as much to provide networking opportunities and to engage face to face with our speakers.

Chair’s Annual Report 2021-22

This will be a much shorter report than last year. For the second year running the Society has continued to operate in a mainly virtual world. Ongoing COVID restrictions restricted our ability to hold in person meetings.

Chair’s Annual Report 2020-21

Since our virtual AGM last September, the Society has continued to operate in a virtual world. Ongoing COVID restrictions have prevented us holding any in person meetings. Nonetheless with the efforts of our dedicated group of Trustees we have managed to host a series of online events which have been well attended by the Society’s members and guests.

Chair’s Annual Report 2019-20

The past year has been a challenging one for the Society as it has been for the wider world. I took over as Chairman from Sir Derek Plumbly at the last AGM in June 2019 and I want to pay tribute to Derek for his leadership of the Society over the previous three years. For the first half of the year the Society operated as normal with our annual events, Ghazi al Gosaibi lecture and the Rawabi Awards held as usual.

Chair’s Annual Report 2018–19

We have had three main events over the past 12 months. On 21 June 2018, following the Society’s 29th Annual General Meeting, Martyn Best, architect and CEO and founder of the consultancy Cultural Innovations, gave a talk entitled “Saudi Arabia: Projecting Heritage from 1989 to Vision 2030”.

Chair’s Annual Report 2017–18

Society activities have again centred on the delivery of a programme of talks relevant to its mandate of promoting understanding of Saudi Arabia and its culture and history: each talk was followed by a modest reception designed to enable members to engage with the speakers.

Chair’s Annual Report 2016–17

On 1 June 2016, following the last Annual general Meeting, Ms Salma al Ajaji of Aramco, gave a detailed presentation entitled "Saudi Aramco: Its Role and Future Development".

Chair’s Annual Report 2015–16

On 9 June 2015 following the last AGM I gave a talk entitled In Pursuit of Stability, which drew on my experience as a diplomat and international official in the Arab world, including most recently as UN Under Secretary General and Special Coordinator for Lebanon.

Chair’s Annual Report 2014–15

On 22nd October 2014 we were entertained by Roger Harrison, author of Wings Over Arabia who showed us aerial views of Saudi Arabia taken when he accompanied Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz and Prince Bander Bin Khaled Al Faisal on an expedition by glider over the western region of Saudi Arabia.