Crown Prince says Saudi Arabia’s development in line with economic, cultural fundamentals

Saudi Arabia is developing in line with its economic and cultural fundamentals, as well as its people and history, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in an interview with The Atlantic. 

The Kingdom doesn’t want to introduce copied projects, but needs to offer new things to the world, he added. 

The Crown Prince confirmed that the Kingdom is not trying to look like Dubai or the US, but rather offers many one-of-a-kind projects, citing AlUla project, Diriyah Gate, and NEOM mega city as examples.   

However, Prince Mohammed ruled out the possibility of weakening the Saudi Islamic identity while implementing reforms.

Speaking about the US Interests in the Saudi Arabia, the Crown Prince said that he believes that any country in the world has basic economic, political and security interest, which is the base upon which foreign policies are established for any country. He added that any leader should look for ways to push the wheel of economy in his country, strengthen its security, bolster its economic and political ties with other states, to ensure that one's nation is secure and flourishing and has more growth opportunities in investment and trade.

"Saudi Arabia is a member of G20 and its ranking is currently is close to the 17th among member states, a great progress compared to the Kingdom's ranking that was near the 20th position five years ago. We aspire to rise to a more advanced ranking above the 15th place by 2030. For example, our target was to achieve a GDP growth of 5.9% and I believe we achieved 5.6% in 2021. This places us among the fastest-growing states worldwide. Next year, the Saudi economy is set to grow by about 7%," said the Crown Prince.

Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s fastest growing countries and will very soon become the fastest growing ever, Prince Mohammed indicated, adding that the Kingdom has two of the world’s top ten sovereign funds and one of the world’s largest foreign currency reserves. The Kingdom can fulfill 12% of the world's oil demand, he noted.

Saudi Arabia is located between three sea straits: the Suez Strait, the Bab Al-Mandab Strait and the Strait of Hormuz, overlooking the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

Nearly 27% of the global trade passes through Saudi Arabia, with $800 billion Saudi investments in the US. Further, US companies pay great attention to the Saudi investments, as more than 300,000 Americans are living in Saudi Arabia, and some of them hold both nationalities.

In China, so far, Saudi Arabia invested less than $100 billion, and it seems that Saudi operations are growing there very quickly.