When the Saudi English newspaper was launched in 1975, it was a great relief for the many thousands of expatriates working for our company, Saudconsult. The company had and still has since its establishment in 1965 people of different nationalities and many of the employees did not speak Arabic. At that time we had only Arabic newspapers with occasional western, Indian and Filipino reports, but they were days and weeks old.
Arab News became part of the early morning routine in our company and in a very short time this paper became the main source of local, international, sports and community news. There was no modern communication in 1975 and in time we started to see Arab News in all the Kingdom’s hotels, restaurants and airlines.
As we know it, the Saudi Research & Publishing Company (SRPC) expanded and had many other publications to supplement Arab News.
I would like, on behalf of the 2,500 employees of my company, to wish this newspaper and its editor–in-chief and his staff the best of luck on the 39th anniversary.
Dr. Tarek Al-Shawaf
Saudi Consulting Services, Riyadh
