Saudi-Danish relations see dramatic upswing: Envoy

Saudi leadership is enabling women to take on central positions in the labor market through education, thereby enriching Saudi society with their talent, said Danish Ambassador Ole Frijs-Madsen.
The envoy made his observation on the occasion of Denmark’s National Day, which is also the birthday of Queen Margrethe of Denmark.
“This year is a special national day, since Her Majesty is celebrating her 75th birthday,” the envoy observed.
Underlining the role of women in society, Ambassador Frijs-Madsen said it is a rare coincidence that both the queen and Denmark’s prime minister happen to be women.
The event was attended by Riyadh Mayor Ibrahim Al-Sultan and members of the diplomatic community.
“Over the years Denmark has expanded its cooperation with Saudi Arabia in many areas. Under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Saudi Arabia is continuing to develop its society within a broad spectrum, and Danish companies, universities and other institutions are teaming up with Saudi actors in many of these fields,” he noted.
According to him, Denmark’s partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been evolving positively. Saudis are major consumers of sophisticated goods and services from more than 100 Danish companies, many of which employ hundreds of skilled Saudi workers.
“Denmark is partnering with Saudi Arabia to sustain high quality vocational training of young Saudis towards excellence and proficiency as an important foundation of the future labor force of the Kingdom,” the ambassador noted.
“Her majesty is a modern queen representing a dynamic constitutional monarchy with long roots in history and culture,” he said.
“Actually, Denmark is one of the oldest Kingdoms in the world with its history dating back to the year 935 in the Gregorian calendar corresponding to the year 323 according to the Hijri calendar.”
The envoy said, “We had our first sovereign ruling queen — Margrethe the First — in the 14th century. She was the queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and founder of the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian countries for over a century.”
The Kingdom of Denmark has over the years developed into one of the most sophisticated countries in terms of social cohesion, equal opportunities, education, innovation, technology and humanitarian aid to less privileged countries, he observed.
Denmark is among the five countries in the world that live up to the United Nations’ target of giving 0.7 percent of its GNP to development aid, he said.
“We all know that income as well as natural and human resources are not equally distributed around the world.” Denmark is a small country of less than 6 million people, but plays its role in addressing the various challenges facing the international community.