US House speaker Nancy Pelosi sat in the speaker's chair on Thursday on a visit to conservative Saudi Arabia's all-male advisory council and said her talks with King Abdullah centered on his Middle East peace plan.
"Nice view from here," Pelosi said as she sat in the chair of Sheikh Saleh bin Humaid, a Muslim cleric who heads the 150-strong appointed Shura (consultative) Council.
Sporting a pistachio green pantsuit in a country where only foreign dignitaries are exempted from the abaya, the long black cloak that is a must for other women, Pelosi was shown around the posh advisory body and held a one-hour meeting with a dozen members.
"I am very pleased that after 200-plus years in the United States we finally have a (woman) speaker. It took us a long time," Pelosi said when asked how she felt about sitting in a place from which Saudi women are excluded.
The leading US Democrat put her hand on her chest when she was greeted by bin Humaid on arrival, the traditional response to greetings from clerics who do not shake hands with women. She did shake hands with other Shura members.
"Reform doesn't mean jumping steps; we are going about it step by step," said Abdulrahman al-Zamil, head of the council's Saudi-US friendship committee. He was speaking about the slow process of reform in Saudi Arabia, which has so far held only partial municipal elections from which women were barred. More on the story.
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