The second largest city in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah exemplifies the changes that have been taking place during the five-year reign of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. Located in the Province of Makkah, which also contains the holy cities of Makkah and Medina, Jeddah is Saudi Arabia’s most modern and cosmopolitan urban centre, and is undergoing a construction boom that reflects the massive and ongoing economic expansion of the desert state in recent years.
King Abdullah ascended to the throne in 2005, but has effectively been running the country since 1995 when his predecessor, King Fahd, was incapacitated by a stroke. He has recognised the need to engage with the modern world and for Saudi Arabia itself to modernise, and has overseen a range of economic, social, education and health projects that are gradually changing the face of the kingdom.
King Abdullah rules over one of the world’s most strategically important countries. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest exporter of petroleum, controlling a fifth of the world’s oil supply. For Britain and the United States, the kingdom is a key ally in one of the most volatile and potentially dangerous parts of the world. Saudi Arabia plays a vital role in the maintenance of regional security and the fight against terrorism, and is also an important trading partner, particularly in the defence market.
Saudi Arabia is the most traditional and conservative of Arab states, a country where religious principles are fundamental to the conduct of political, economic and social life. As Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the King draws his authority from Islam, the established religion, rather than any secular source.
In the modern global economy, however, no country can prosper in isolation and no economy can grow without change. Saudi Arabia is no more immune to the challenge of new problems and the need to find solutions than anywhere else. In the long term, oil is a dwindling resource and Saudi Arabia will need to find new sources of income. More immediately, it has a rapidly growing population and needs to create jobs for its young people.
King Adbullah, who is also the Prime Minister, is a reformer who has recognised the need to engage with the modern world, and – as long as its Islamic values are not compromised – for Saudi Arabia itself to modernise. Positive steps have been taken to liberalise and diversify the economy. Just over four months after his accession, Saudi Arabia became a full member of the World Trade Organisation, opening up the economy to foreign investors.
Reform measures continue to be implemented, although the state retains strong control of economic activity. State spending is the most powerful driver of the economy, which is forecast to grow by 4.2 per cent in 2011, after 3.8 per cent growth last year. King Abdullah’s government has budgeted to spend more than $68 billion dollars (£42.6 billion) this year, the equivalent of 15 per cent of GDP. In the four-year period 2010-2014, a total of some $373 billion is to be spent on social development and infrastructure projects to boost economic development. Six new economic mega cities are to be built, including King Abdullah Economic City, currently under construction at Rabigh just 60 miles north of Jeddah.
The opening in 2009 of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology – Saudi Arabia’s first mixed gender university – marked the realisation of the King’s vision to initiate a new era of scientific and economic progress in the kingdom. The university is intended to act as a catalyst for transforming Saudi Arabia into a knowledge-based economy and to become one of the world’s great research institutions.
The new Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh, which is due to open a new campus in 2012, will accommodate up to 40,000 students and is designed to become the largest women-only university in the world.
On the diplomatic front, King Abdullah has worked for resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict through the Arab Peace Initiative, based on a plan he presented to the Beirut Arab Summit in 2002. He has also sought to resolve conflicts in the Arab and Islamic world and promoted dialogue between followers of different religions; his call for interfaith dialogue led to the World Conference on Dialogue in Madrid in 2008 and a United Nations conference in New York the same year.
First in the line of succession to King Abdullah is Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, who has held the position of Deputy Prime Minister since 2005. The Crown Prince is also Minister of Defence and Aviation and Inspector-General.
In an earlier role, as Minister of Transportation, Prince Sultan made an important contribution to the development of the kingdom’s roads and telecommunications network. He oversaw the construction of the Arabian Peninsula’s only railway system, linking Dammam with Riyadh, and he continues to be involved with transportation in the kingdom as chairman of the Saudi Arabian Railways Organisation and chairman of the national carrier, Saudi Arabian Airlines.
As Minister of Defence and Aviation, a position he has held since 1963, the Crown Prince has played a key role in building up and modernising Saudi Arabia’s armed forces.
Known for his humanitarian and philanthropic interests, in 1995 he established the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Charity Foundation, which supports socially beneficial projects in medicine, science, technology and education.
On January 11, Prince Sultan laid the foundation stone for a huge new King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. The $7.2 billion development, part of a comprehensive programme to develop Saudi Arabia’s domestic airports, will increase KAIA’s capacity to 35 million passengers annually and raise its profile as an aviation hub linking east and west.
The new airport will facilitate the arrival and departure of the increasing numbers of pilgrims travelling to the holy city of Makkah for the annual Hajj; the officially announced number of pilgrims last year was 2.8 million, although large numbers of illegal pilgrims also attend.
It will also support the comprehensive development of the holy city, for which a 20-year development plan involving investment of around $26 billion is currently being finalised for King Abdullah’s approval.
The Governor of Makkah Province is Prince Khalid Al Faisal. Appointed in 2007, the Prince was formerly Governor of Asir in southwestern Saudi Arabia, where he played a major role in the development of the region. He also holds the rank of Minister within the Royal Government of Saudi Arabia.
Internationally recognised as an artist, poet and patron of the arts, Prince Al-Faisal established the Arab Thought Foundation in 2002 and the Cultural Council of Makkah in 2008. He is also managing director of the King Faisal Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic and charitable organisations in the world, and in 2010 was picked as Leading Personality of the Year by the World Travel Awards in recognition of his efforts to develop religious tourism and his pioneering work for the Foundation.
The Prince has declared that the aim of the development plan is to make Makkah one of the most beautiful, civilised and advanced cities in the world. “Our dream for Makkah is taking shape,” he says. “It is not a mirage in the desert or an outlandish aspiration, but a real, heart-pounding rhythm of progress seen and heard rising up from the sands.”
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