Not long ago, chances were that I would not live long enough to be able to write this column. When I was a boy growing up in Saudi Arabia during the 1960s, the average life expectancy was 37 years. Today, it is 75 years. When I went to England for my education, I was one of just a handful of young Saudis studying outside of the Kingdom. Today, there are more than 200,000 Saudi students studying abroad. About that same time, my sisters had very little access to higher education. Today, 55% of college students in Saudi Arabia are women.
But for me, the transformation of the cities in my country has been nothing short of extraordinary. Once small towns in the middle of vast expanses of desert, they are now filled with skyscrapers, connected by superhighways and modern airports; dotted with international universities, state-of-the-art hospitals and major shopping centers; and bustling with every form of commerce from global enterprises to start-up companies. That is not quite the image that many have of life in Saudi Arabia. But the story of the change I have seen in a single generation is just the prologue of the remarkable transformation that is underway — and the world needs to take notice.
When President Obama landed in Riyadh this week, he arrived in a Saudi Arabia that is rapidly moving toward a future where its economy is not dependent on oil. And the upward growth trajectory of the Saudi economy has, in fact, been driven by the non-oil sector, which has grown at a rate of at least 5% a year over the past 10 years. The economic diversification that is taking place is fueled by activities that encompass mining, information technology, security technology, agriculture, health, rail and railway equipment, and renewable energy.
Through the comprehensive Vision 2020 strategy, Saudi Arabia has put forward a bold and decisive blueprint for overall growth. Vision 2020 sees Saudi Arabia as “a diversified and prosperous economy that guarantees the existence of rewarding job opportunities and higher levels of economic welfare for Saudi citizens, and a provision of education and health care for the population to equip the labor force with adequate skills.”
Among the cornerstones of Vision 2020 is a focus on economic diversification, the development of human resources, including increasing the role and number of women in the workforce, and the privatization of such economic sectors as health care, education and transportation. The manufacturing sector will be a vital growth engine and an incubator for new technologies and innovation, essential to the success of the Kingdom in today’s global economy. And Saudi Arabia has the financial strength to implement and accelerate this economic transformation. The Kingdom has virtually no debt (1.6% of GDP), plentiful foreign reserves (97% of GDP) and a solid credit profile.
One example of our efforts to spur innovation and diversification is The National Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation, a $2.13 billion initiative that supports more than 2,000 projects in the field of scientific research and technology and that benefits from various industrial partnerships. The Kingdom is now the scene of all forms of new economic life springing up. The goal is to transform Saudi research into commercial investments, and we are doing just that. Today, for example, Saudi Arabia is a global leader in harnessing solar power for the production of desalinated water, using technology developed through the Kingdom’s ambitious investment program and partnership with global players such as NASA.
But economic investment alone is not enough to ensure a prosperous and stable future. A country also needs the right environment to fuel entrepreneurship and to attract and maintain investment domestically and globally. It also needs a vibrant civil society that provides every citizen with opportunities to participate in the decision-making process. All these changes are taking place in Saudi Arabia, and at a pace that rivals if not surpasses the speed at which they happened in the development of any other nation in history.
This includes enhanced transparency of our laws and government institutions, the institutionalization of human rights organizations, the introduction of democratic elections in municipal government and the expansion of powers within theConsultative Council, our legislative branch, where 20% of the members are now women. This is not the backward, extremist society that some critics portray us to be.
In addition to economic and social change, there has also been a transformation of Saudi engagement in foreign affairs. Where there has been a need, Saudi Arabia has stepped forward to provide the unwavering leadership and action needed to bring peace and stability to the region and the world. We took action in Yemen when a militia backed by Iran and Hezbollah tried to take over the country. In Syria, we have provided military and political support to try to end a civil war that has claimed the lives of more than 300,000 people, while providing at the same time much needed care for refugees. To confront Daesh (the Islamic State terrorist group, or ISIL), we are leading a 39-nation coalition focused on defeating these barbarians in every possible way — militarily, financially and ideologically. And we work with other countries in the region, including Iraq, Egypt, Libya and the Sudan, to provide economic support as well as support to combat terrorist and extremist elements within these countries.
So when people judge Saudi Arabia, sometimes quite harshly, they seem not to notice that the modern Saudi state is barely 84 years old. In that short amount of time, we have gone from a desert kingdom to a modern country and a global leader. Yes, we still have progress to make, but try to look at Saudi Arabia through the lens of your own experience.
The United States was founded in 1776. It took almost 90 years to abolish slavery, more than 140 years before women were given the right to vote and almost 190 years before equal civil rights was the law of the land. The point is that progress takes time, and we cannot expect the development of every other society to follow the same trajectory. Each must develop within the framework of its own traditions and heritage. The question needs to be, is it moving in the right direction? And in regard to Saudi Arabia, the answer is clearly yes.
