RIYADH, Dec 11: The US ambassador-designate to Riyadh, James Oberwetter, on Tuesday promised to encourage democratic reforms and tolerance for other religions in Saudi Arabia.

He was speaking at a hearing in the Senate, which later confirmed the Texas oil lobbyist as ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

He faced no opposition in the initial hearing. But New York’s Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat, later asked President Bush to withdraw Mr Oberwetter’s nomination.

Mr Schumer contended that the nomination sent the message that US relationship with Saudi Arabia was based on oil.

Senator Schumer and other lawmakers have criticized the Bush administration’s relationship with Saudi Arabia. They argue that in an attempt to maintain good relations with Riyadh, Washington was ignoring its “lack of democracy, religious intolerance and half-hearted efforts to fight terrorism”.

But Mr Oberwetter said at his confirmation hearing that there had been encouraging signs from the Saudis since May 12, when attacks on housing compounds in Riyadh killed 35 people.

He said the Saudis’ cooperation with US on intelligence had improved and they were also trying to prevent charitable contributions from being directed to terror groups.

Teachers from schools promoting extremism had been retrained and questionable textbooks recalled, he added.