Saudi Arabia vision 2030 achievements and future prospects

King Salman believes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) must transform to maintain its global status and acquire new weightage. The traditional tools of influence, growth, development, and engagement will not be able to sustain the 21st century’s shocks. The kingdom will have to devise new means of influence and search for new paths of growth and sustainable development. The engagement policy and tools should also be refined according to the needs of the contemporary world and the future of the Kingdom.

The need to transform multiplies due to contemporary challenges, regional dynamics, and competition. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues in the contemporary world. Countries are struggling to find sustainable solutions and KSA is no exception. Rather, climate change is the most serious and relevant challenge for the Kingdom. Why? Saudi Arabia’s economy is dependent on fossil fuels, and climate change is pushing the world to move away from fossil fuels, the primary source of income for the Kingdom. Thus, climate change is a dual-edged problem for Saudi Arabia. On the one hand, Saudi Arabia has to devise mechanisms to combat the impacts of climate change. On the other hand, the Kingdom has to develop new means of income to keep the country on the development track.

Second, regional dynamics are going through fast-paced changes. First, the Arab Spring jolted the whole region. People’s movements compelled traditional rulers to step down, and new forms of governance emerged. Foreign powers indulged in power politics more deeply. Second, Israel entered the region by establishing diplomatic relations with certain countries in the Middle East. Third, regional countries are fiercely competing to gain influence.

Against this backdrop, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS) carried the mantle of transforming the vision of King Salman into reality. Since then, MBS has been on a mission to transform the KSA. He has envisioned KSA as a country, which will be vibrant, dynamic, and diverse. He wants to build an economy and society to tackle the challenges of the 21st century. He is striving hard to diversify the economy and social fabric. Under his leadership, KSA has devised a detailed blueprint of policies, actions, and indicators under Vision 2030, which will guide the transformation.

Vision 2030 is an all-inclusive document that follows the principles of sustainable development and caters to future needs. It entails all critical areas. It has been built on eight themes/pillars, including healthcare, living standards, sustainability of resources, social development, governmental efficiency, labor market, enabling private sector and tourism, and national heritage. Thematic areas have well-defined objectives, indicators, sub-indicators, and concrete initiatives. The vision has 37 objectives, 92 indicators, 224 sub-indicators, and 433 proposed initiatives. Thus, this is being dubbed as a vision with tangible and well-defined objectives and actions by independent experts and researchers.

The execution plan of the vision is the best part of the Vision 2030. There is no ambiguity about the execution. It is helping Saudi Arabia to achieve its goals and targets. The latest report on the achievements of Vision 2030 has many things that can make Saudi Arabia proud and sense of accomplishment to King Salman and Crown Prince.

First, on the social side, Saudi Arabia achieved many milestones. Now, Saudi Arabia ranked at 1st place among Arab countries on the happiness index. Globally, Saudi Arabia stands at 21st place. It is a considerable achievement. It shows that the State cares for people and the welfare of people is the prime focus of the State.

Second, Saudi Arabia is putting a particular focus on the empowerment of women. The statistics show that 38 percent of small and medium enterprises are owned and operated by women. It is a complete turnaround in the history of the Kingdom.

Third, education is another sector where the Crown Prince is putting dedicated efforts. He believes Saudi Arabia cannot dream about the transformation without quality human capital. And, we can only create quality human capital with a quality education system. Thus, he is investing generously in education. According to the report, Saudi Arabia allocated US$ 51 billion for education. Besides, he is sending students to top-notch universities in the world. The investment is paying back, as Saudi Arabia ranked first in the Arab world and 14th at the global level for COVID-19-related research papers.

On the economic front, the diversification of the economy is leading to the country's transformation. Saudi Arabia is diversifying by creating an enabling environment for domestic and international investment. The economy is becoming more competitive and encourages new ventures. According to the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2020, KSA ranked 12th for venture capitalist availability. Besides, there has been a recent surge in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Saudi Arabia. The data shows that FDI increased from US$ 1.42 billion to US$ 4.7 billion. The SME sector is the leading contender, with a 40 percent share, followed by the industry (16 percent). It is expected to help Saudi Arabia achieve the target of 35 percent contribution of small and medium enterprises in the national economy.

Second, Saudi Arabia is equally focused on enhancing connectivity and dream of becoming a regional connectivity hub. For that purpose, KSA is investing in building a state-of-the-art transport infrastructure. Owning to the continuous efforts and building quality infrastructure, KSA was ranked 1st place in the road connectivity index at the global level. KSA has also launched a new airline to enhance connectivity. It has been envisaged that the airline will operate on 100 international routes in 2030. Besides, under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has invested US$ 2.4 billion in economic infrastructure.

Third, digital connectivity is another area where KSA is making steady progress. Saudi Arabia was declared the number one country with 5-G internet speed. Kingdom has installed more than 12000 5-G towers. KSA is emerging as a new center of excellence for digitalization and digital connectivity. Alibaba, Google, and Oracle are establishing their regional centers in the Kingdom. Huawei has joined the race and established a regional cloud center in Riyadh. Huawei will also be training 200000 developers, building partnerships with 1,000 local partners, and investing in 2000 start-ups. It will not only assist KSA in consolidating its position in the region but also will help to create a global footprint.

Fourth, innovation is leading the economic diversification drive. For example, under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is constructing an innovative city, NEOM. It is a next-generation city that will help combat climate change and environmental degradation challenges. Fourth, tourism will be a leading sector in the future of the Kingdom. It is anticipated that the construction of the Red Sea project will turn Saudi Arabia into one of the most lucrative destinations for tourism.

Lastly, Saudi Arabia knows the importance of defence and defence production capabilities. Hence, Vision 2030 set a goal to localize the production of defence products. It has been envisioned that Saudi Arabia will meet 50 percent of its needs through domestic production in 2030. Hence, KSA is investing in enhancing the share of domestic production sources. The data shows that in 2020, the domestic defence production was 8 percent from 2 percent in 2015.

All these interventions are helping Saudi Arabia to diversify and enhance the share of non-oil revenue in the national exchequer. The national statistics show that non-oil revenue increased from US$ 45 billion in 2015 to US$ 98.3 billion in 2020.

In the conclusion, we can deduce two conclusions from the above discussion. First, progress in implementing Vision 2030 is quite satisfactory. Second, Saudi Arabia is an emerging new destination of investment and opportunities. The world, including Pakistan, can benefit from these opportunities by devising the right policies.