London, Dec.18 (BNA): Bahrain Ambassador to the UK Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa hosted a reception ceremony last Wednesday marking the National Day and His Majesty’s Accession Day.

The event was attended by His Highness Shaikh Sultan bin Hamad al Khalifa, son of HM the King, His Grace the Duke of Westminster Gerald Grosvenor, Tobias Ellwood MP, Minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Rt Hon Sir Alan Duncan MP, the Mayor and Mayoress of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, as well as many of his fellow Ambassadors, members of the two houses of Parliament, members of the diplomatic corps, international media and business figures and friends of Bahrain in Britain.

In his speech, the ambassador praised the long-standing friendship between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Kingdom. He said these National Day celebrations were particularly special, not only as his first as Ambassador in London but also because of the forthcoming celebrations of two hundred years of friendship between the UK and Bahrain.

He said this relationship had developed across a whole range of fields and that during this time of regional challenges the two countries were truly fortunate to have found such reliable allies in each other.

His Grace the Duke of Westminster in reply spoke warmly of his admiration of Bahrain, praising the integrity, honesty and courage shown by the people of Bahrain and the King and called Bahrain the truest of true allies.

He said: ‘’I have visited Bahrain and I saw the freedom of expression, the freedom of worship and the freedom of the right to vote.’’

He congratulated the ambassador for all that he had achieved so far and spoke of looking forward very much to his next visit to the Kingdom in 2016.

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BNA 0840 GMT 2015/12/18