Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said he is seeking Saudi King Abdullah's permission to sell an expensive set of jewelry the royal gave his wife at an OPEC summit in Riyadh last month.
In his weekly radio address to the nation on Saturday, Correa said he wanted to sell the jewels — which include earrings and a necklace made of diamonds and emeralds and set in white gold — to finance social programs in Ecuador.
Correa said the jewelry given to his wife, Anne Malherbe, was worth "hundreds of thousands of dollars," and he wanted the royal's approval to sell it to "avoid any resentment" from the king.
The jewels "can't stay with my wife," Correa said. "She didn't receive them for being Anne Malherbe, but for being the president's wife. They belong to the Ecuadorean people."
Correa said that if the Saudi king rejects his proposal, he will leave them on display for visitors at the presidential palace in Quito.
source
7 comments:
Really makes you go hmmm...
So much money is spent on useless things like those gifts when the Saudi public schooling and the major Saudi cities infrastructure is so under developed. I remember back when I was in public schools in Jeddah, students had to buy chalk for the teacher to write on the bored o_O
Some schools could not afford a year supply of chalk, don’t get me started on extra curricular activities.
sigh
wow...that is very thoughtful of the president and his wife..can not see any arabic "president"doing this...why couldnt we have presidents like that huh??
dandoon .. when did u live in saudi?
sam .. to answer your question .. i think it has something to do with the fact aht he is an ELECTED president :|
in a similar story .....
Bill Clinton's presidential library raised more than 10 percent of the cost of its $165 million facility from foreign sources, with the most generous overseas donation coming from Saudi Arabia, according to interviews yesterday.
The royal family of Saudi Arabia gave the Clinton facility in Little Rock about $10 million, roughly the same amount it gave toward the presidential library of George H.W. Bush, according to people directly familiar with the contributions.
The Post confirmed numerous seven-figure donors to the library through interviews and tax records of foundations. Several foreign governments gave at least $1 million, including the Middle Eastern nations of Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the governments of Taiwan and Brunei.
In addition, a handful of Middle Eastern business executives and officials also gave at least $1 million each, according to the interviews. They include Saudi businessmen Abdullah al-Dabbagh, Nasser al-Rashid and Walid Juffali, as well as Issam Fares, a U.S. citizen who previously served as deputy prime minister of Lebanon.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121402124_pf.html
Things are a changin' in Ecuador recently Mo. I think some of those countries down there who have been treated so well (NOT) by the US ever since the Monroe Doctrine and the "Good Neighbor Policy" (what a MISNOMER!) are getting a little "uppity" since Chavez has come on the scene. They are not renewing the lease on a US air force base there used by the Southern command "to combat the illegal cocaine trade" and also, they are withdrawing from the World Bank Court which covers investment disputes (Bolivia withdrew in April) Seems like the spark of self-determination and national SELF interests as opposed to the interests of others has been lit.
Occidental Petroleum is NOT so happy. BTW-CNN did a special last week on WORLD heroes, profiled ten people. One of them was an Ecuadorian lawyer (he is indigenous) who has been fighting to clean up the environmental MESS left by Occidental. With all these stirrings down there, maybe my government will be distracted a bit from your neck of the woods, after all, it's rather risky to say NO to the US and hope to get away with it.
(Maybe they could sell off some of the artworks and property of the Catholic church which has been collected over all the years down there too)
I received most of my education in Jeddah. I left Saudi in 2002.
interesting stuff robin .. thanks for sharing :)
dandoon .. thats cool ive lived in dhahran most of my life .. and i have no experience with saudi public schools .. i attended a private one for a few years though.
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