The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs has compiled a unified directory of procedures to be followed by Saudi diplomatic missions abroad in case any Saudi meets with an accident in a foreign country, Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday quoting the director of the ministry's department of information.

“This step is aimed at unifying procedures to be taken by all missions whenever a Saudi citizen has an accident,” Ambassador Osama Nukali said. He added the ministry had circulated the directory to all its missions abroad.

The ambassador said the move was also aimed at facilitating the task of the missions in extending maximum care to Saudi citizens.

He said the directory contained legal and diplomatic procedures to be observed while providing services to the Saudi citizens around the world to ensure that these services were promptly presented.

Nukali advised all Saudis traveling abroad to go immediately to the Saudi diplomatic and consular missions so as to register their passports. “This will facilitate the issuance of new passports in case they are stolen or lost,” he explained.

“There are issues that can be solved by communications with the host country. There are also issues entailing the assignment of a lawyer to follow them up. All these things are clearly explained in the directory,”  the ambassador said.

He said the ministry had given clear instructions to its missions to establish special sections to work 24/7 to look after the affairs of the Saudi citizens and extend to them all the services they might require.