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Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States to speak at BYU Jan. 11

His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al-Faisal will discuss "Saudi-U.S. Relations"

His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, will discuss "Saudi-U.S. Relations" at a Middle East Studies Lecture on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 11 a.m. in the Joseph Smith Building Auditorium on the Brigham Young University campus.

The lecture is free and the public is welcome.

The eighth and last son of the late Saudi King Faisal, Prince Turki became ambassador in 2005 after having served since 2002 as ambassador to the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. He resigned in December 2006, citing a desire to spend more time with his family, but he continues to serve.

He also served as director general of the General Intelligence Directorate, the kingdom's main foreign intelligence service, from 1977 to 2001 following a four-year appointment as an adviser in the Saudi Royal Court.

He is one of the founders of the King Faisal Foundation and being chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh. He is also chairman of the board of the Prince Charles Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts Center as well as the co-chair of the C100 Group, which has been affiliated with the World Economic Forum since 2003.

In 1963, Prince Turki graduated from the Lawrenceville School, a four-year coeducational school in New Jersey, and subsequently received an undergraduate degree at Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1968.

This lecture will be archived online. For more information on events at the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, see the calendar at kennedy.byu.edu.

Writer: Lee Simons

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Photo by Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

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