President of Umm Al-Qura University Dr. Bakri bin M'atooq bin Bakri Assas received at his office in Abdyia campus  the Somali Ambassador to the Kingdom Mr. Tahir Mahmoud Jaili and the Assistant Consul General  Mr. Ali Noor Moalim.  

At the commencement of the meeting, Dr. Assas welcomed the Somali ambassador and the candid words were exchanged between the two sides. Then Dr. Assas shed light on the university and its different scientific and research streams in addition to its mission to serve Islam and community. He referred to the role undertaken by the university towards the foreign students from the Islamic nation received by the university annually alongside their Saudi brothers by providing them educational opportunities in the Sharia and Arabic language colleges and the Institute of Arabic Language for Non-Native Speakers via the scholarships offered by the Saudi government represented by the Ministry of Education. He added that the university accommodates 50 Somali students in the colleges of D'awa and Islamic Theology, Sharia and Islamic Studies and the Institute of Arabic Language for Non-Native Speakers. "They are receiving the needed care and concern to continue their studies", he elaborated.      

For his part, the Somali Ambassador Mr. Tahir Mahmoud Jaili expressed his thanks and appreciation to the government of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz for the study scholarships provided for the Somali's male and female students to receive education in the fields of Sharia and Arabic language in the Saudi Universities as general and Umm Al-Qura University in particular. He then lauded the solid bilateral relations between the two friendly countries under the support and concern of the leadership of the two countries.  He added that his visit to Umm Al-Qura University comes within the coordination efforts given the scientific and educational  role undertaken by this blessed university in the fields of sharia sciences, Islamic studies, D'awa, Islamic theology, Arabic language besides the advanced sciences, wishing for such cooperation to increase in such manner which serves aspirations of the Somali leadership and people.

Further, the Somali Ambassador valued the efforts exerted by Umm Al-Qura University and its keenness to provide the needed care for its students in general and the Somali students in particular. 

At the conclusion of the visit the two sides exchanged memorial gifts.