Under the aegis of the Embassy of France in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Consulate General of France in Jeddah represents France in the Western Province of the Kingdom and in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), an international organization which has its headquarters in Jeddah. The activity in this province is strong. As a matter of fact: more than 3,000 French live in the numerous cities of the Western Province, and the Consulate General has processed 70,892 visas applications last year. I would like to underline the efficient organization I found when I arrived at the end of last year for processing the visa applications: the processing center beneficiates of a vast and comfortable space in Jeddah, with numerous staff. Since I arrived, I have noticed that the applicants can get an appointment in a very short time, even in rush season. Overnight as a general rule. I supervise this period every day. Then, the treatment's period, for Saudis, is three days maximum (for other nationalities the examination period is longer). And 98% of applications are granted. All in all, getting a visa for France is easy, it only asks to be far-sighted and to collect several documents, whose list is public. The Franco-Saudi relationship in the West of the Kingdom covers all the fields of activity, and the multiple services of the Embassy are represented at the Consulate General. In the economic field, plenty of French companies operate from Jeddah, but also Makkah, Madinah, Tabuk, Taïf and Rabigh. Three French firms built production units in King Abdallah Economic City where they employ hundreds of people. In the cultural and university spheres, the cooperation is also very active. We participated this year on "21.39 Jeddah Arts", a very good opportunity to make the diversity of the contemporary artistic creation in Saudi Arabia known. Many universities maintain their cooperation with their French counterparts, and teach also the French language. The French-speaking world, very present because the OIC and the Islamic Development Bank have French as a working language, is also supported by the French Alliance in Saudi Arabia who has a branch in Jeddah: this institute offers French classes but is also empowered to organize official exams of French. I greet also the irreplaceable action of the 5 private francophone schools, and in the first place the French International School in Jeddah, which enroll about 1,400 students. Last but not least, more than 44,000 pilgrims came from France last year, including 18,500 for Haj. And 60% of them were French, where the Muslim community is very important because it is the second religion in number of believers. The Consulate General in Jeddah is of course at the service of these French pilgrims, and every year we set up a team in Makkah during Haj, to furnish them a proximity administrative service. To us, this is highly important task because French authorities want the pilgrimage of our citizens to be done safely and without any problem. As the Consul General in Jeddah and Special Envoy to the OIC, I am very happy to participate in the development of our relations as a handover of our Embassy. Patrick Nicoloco Consul General of France in Jeddah Special Envoy to Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
