New Shoura members look forward to challenges

Women’s entry to the Shoura Council is a great accomplishment for women in the Kingdom, said a newly appointed female member of the consultative body yesterday.
“It is a great achievement for all Saudi women and we feel honored to benefit from the progressive efforts of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah,” Nora bint Abdullah Al-Adwan, the newly appointed Shoura member, told Arab News yesterday.
Al-Adwan has been a consultant to the council for the last six years and has participated in several Shoura programs both within the Kingdom and internationally. Her impressive resume also includes chairing two international symposia on women affairs in Amman and in Abu Dhabi recently.
“We have 30 female members in the consultative body and I am confident that we will initiate a positive impact in the debates and discussions that will take place within the council during the coming four years,” she noted.
She also pointed out that women’s participation in the council would help the 150 member council to contribute a great deal to enlighten the consultative body about the problems Saudi women face.
“We will function as female members in the council within the framework of the Islamic Shariah,” said Al-Adwan, who is currently affiliated to the research chair, specializing on women issues at King Saud University (KSU).
In a major initiative to reform the existing political system, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah chose 30 female members to join the 150-member Shoura Council on Friday.
According to the royal decree, the council will have a 20 percent quota of female members in the council when its new term begins on Tuesday.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah appoints a team of 150 members from various professions for a term of four years. The present President of the Shoura Council Abdullah Al-Asheikh has been reappointed.
The other key officials reappointed were Mohammed bin Ameen bin Ahmed Al-Jeffery, deputy speaker of the Shoura Council, and Fahad bin Mu’tad bin Shafaq Al-Hamad, assistant speaker.
Fayez Al-Shehri, a new member to the Shoura Council, said he is delighted to be appointed as a member of this assembly. “I am thankful to the Almighty Allah and then to King Abdullah for reposing confidence in me to carry out this great task,” he said, adding that he would contribute his best to the progress of the council’s activities in the coming four year. Describing the new appointment as a challenging job, he said the new members would look forward to an eventful tenure in the coming years.
Alshehri, a writer and researcher in the news media, holds a Ph.D. in e-journalism and MA in information sources and e-news from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom.
Thanking King Abdullah for the new responsibility bestowed upon him, Khalid bin Saad bin Abdulaziz bin Said, professor of health and hospital management and chairman of the board of Saudi society for health management in Dammam, said his new assignment would pave the way for new areas of work toward national development.
The Kingdom’s Ambassador in Manama, Abdul Mohsin Al -Marik, who is one of the new nominees to the Shoura Council thanked King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and defense minister, for his new appointment.