Prince Mohammed talks Saudi vision; boasts strong ties with Trump

In his latest interview with US-based Time Magazine, Crown Prince Mohammed talked of his strong relationship with US President Donald Trump, adding that Saudi Arabia also has good relationships with “many members of Congress” from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

“Of course we have a good relationship with President Trump, with his team, with his family, with all the key people in his administration, and also we have a very good relationship with many members of Congress from both parties and a lot of people in the United States of America,” he said in his interview.

Prince Mohammed has been in the United States for the past two weeks discussion Saudi Vision 2030, and meeting with American politicians and business tycoons. His visit included trips to California, Boston, as well as New York.

He added that it is important for Saudis and Americans to work together in order to face dangers and create a better future for their people.

The Crown Prince also mentioned that Saudi Arabia is in hits third phase of its establishment, which is a new phase of development and change that will be driven forward by the younger, millennial generation.

“We lived in an economy that is already among the top 20 economies of the world, and our eyes are focusing on what we are missing, what we can’t do. And we believe that Saudi Arabia until today used only 10 percent of its capacity, and we have 90 percent to go,” he said to Time Magazine.

One of the key topics of discussion included the Kingdom’s plans to transform its entertainment industry.

“We spend $230 billion US a year outside Saudi Arabia. If we do nothing, it will go up in 2030 to between $300-400 billion US spent outside of Saudi Arabia,” he said. “If we do nothing, it will go up in 2030 to between $300-400 billion US spent outside of Saudi Arabia.

The plan is to spend half of it in Saudi Arabia. We have many programs to do this. We have privatization.”

He also mentioned that Saudi Arabia is not trying to copy or recreate other business models, such as Silicon Valley, rather it is looking to establish something unique to its own culture and resources.

“We are shaping our economy based on our strengths: oil downstream petrochemicals, materials, mobility, transportation, minerals, and gas. We have a lot of gas explorations in the Red Sea, we have local content, balance of payment.”

He also discussed the Kingdom’s plans to reform education, and his goal to make Saudi Arabia among the top 30 countries in terms of education worldwide.

“So first of all, our education, it’s not bad. It’s good. We are ranked 41 among education systems around the world. France is ranked 40, so we are almost like France, as to the quality of the education system,” he said. “But our ambition is not to continue to be next to France. “Our ambition is to be in the top 30 to 20 in the next coming years.”

Prince Mohammed also discussed the latest developments in Yemen, and the Kingdom-led efforts to dismantle the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

“Sometimes in the Middle East, not all the choices it will be between good and bad choices. Sometimes we are between bad and worse choice. But let me tell you one important thing. The humanitarian problem in Yemen didn’t start in 2015. It started in 2014 when the Houthis started to move.”

He also reiterated his concerns that Iran is continuing to create instability in the region by supporting terrorists and extremists.

In response to Time’s question on whether or not the Kingdom has started to obtain Nuclear weapons, the Crown Prince, who is also the Minister of Defense said: “No, regarding nuclear weapons, we have not started to do anything, and we will not start to do anything until we see Iran announce that they have a nuclear weapon. So this will not happen until that happens. And of course we are preparing our army. We have a very strong army, well-equipped army, the best in quality and mixing of quality and size of armies in the Middle East.”

Without specifying, we also added that whatever kind of escalation occurs with Iran, it will not be felt by the Saudi people. 

"The economy shouldn’t be harmed or even feel it. So we are trying to be sure that we are far away from whatever escalation happens, it doesn’t affect the normal social life and the normal economic life in Saudi Arabia. We have that, but we want to be far away assured on that."