Vision 2030: Saudi Arabia Beyond Oil

On April 25, 2016, the Saudi government presented Vision 2030, a sweeping plan for moving the kingdom beyond oil dependence. This plan includes: the privatization of a portion of the Saudi national oil company Aramco; the expansion of the resources and role of the Saudi Public Investment Fund; and the development of the country’s ports, cultural resources, and tourist sites to take advantage of its strategic position at the center of the Arab and Islamic world. In this series, scholars and a cross section of Saudi opinion leaders examine the implications of the reform plan.

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A New Year in Saudi Mining

The Saudi mining industry starts 2020 with a slimmer regulatory agency, new management, and prospects that appear more favorable than many other Vision 2030 programs.

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Vision Realization: A Status Update on Saudi Arabia's Economic Reforms

Tim Callen, mission chief for Saudi Arabia at the International Monetary Fund, spoke with AGSIW about Saudi Arabia's economic reform agenda.

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Storytelling in Today’s Saudi Arabia

The drama series “Al-Asouf” vividly captures the trend of telling Saudi stories with Saudi actors and its power in shaping the public’s perceptions and aspirations.

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Ramadan Messaging and the Winds of Change

The Ramadan series "Al-Asouf" folds seamlessly into the current mainstream Saudi media narrative, as the country focuses on developing its homegrown industries and nationalist rhetoric.

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Saudi Arabia Takes Steps to Assure Foreign Investors

The economic components of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious transformation, in which local and foreign investments play a pivotal role, ultimately hinge on the government’s ability to improve the transparency of commercial processes.

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Transforming Riyadh: A New Urban Paradigm?

Through a series of megaprojects aimed at beautifying the city, Riyadh has the potential to offer a unique model of urbanity that can be a counterpoint to the more speculative trends pervasive in the region.

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Civil Nuclear Energy in the Middle East: Demand, Parity, and Risk

Highlighting the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, this paper studies the security policy implications of civil nuclear programs and assesses the prospects for indigenous nuclear industries and relationships with international suppliers.

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Aramco’s Pickup of SABIC Suggests Diversification is Losing Steam

The “back-to-basics” economic strategy now underway in the region represents a partial retreat, or at least a refocusing, from the ambitious diversification goals of past years.

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Climate Change and Economic Diversification in Saudi Arabia: Integrity, Challenges, and Opportunities

While Saudi Arabia’s long involvement in global climate change negotiations has attracted mounting attention, little is known about the kingdom’s climate change governance at the domestic level or its progress in terms of addressing climate change in line with economic diversification.

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Saudi-Moroccan Political Tensions Challenge Quiet Economic Ties

A series of political disputes is testing bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and Morocco, but growing economic engagement between the two monarchies offers an incentive for both sides to prevent simmering tensions from boiling over into commercial spheres.

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Saudi-Indian Economic Partnership Charting New Course

The economic relationship between Saudi Arabia and India should be a fruitful one. However, domestic policy decisions and geopolitical tensions pose new – but ultimately surmountable – obstacles.

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Growing Saudi-Egyptian Ties Face Challenges of Economic Reforms

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s November trip to Egypt highlighted the important regional alliance between Riyadh and Cairo, but collaboration over megaprojects may strain Riyadh’s fiscal capacity.

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Khashoggi Death Looms over Saudi Economic Reform Agenda

While pursuing long-term economic reform and diversification, Saudi Arabia needs to show that the kingdom is an attractive, business-friendly place; yet recent moves have worried investors over the business environment, and raised some concerns over the impact on oil policy.

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Saudi Arabia Shelves SoftBank Solar Effort, Reflecting Challenges with Megaprojects

Saudi Arabia’s decision to delay a $200 billion solar power project with Japan’s SoftBank casts doubt on the future of the kingdom’s solar energy initiative.

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Neom Update: Funding the World’s Most Ambitious Project

Nearly a year after Neom's announcement, the futuristic Saudi megacity is still only in the early stages of development. To meet goals of opening fully by 2025, planners must overcome a key challenge: shoring up funding.

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Spending to Grow in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is seeing some positive news in the return on investment in its outwardly placed capital in new technology.

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Privatization in Saudi Arabia: Vision 2030 Ready to Sell

There have been four important changes to the kingdom's economic policies that may pave the way for increased foreign investment, though not likely immediate job growth.

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Saudi Arabia Sets Goals for Football On and Off the Pitch

New Saudi leadership has high hopes for economic and political payoffs tied to a heightened priority on football.

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A Home of One’s Own: Subsidized Housing as a Key Lever of Gulf Domestic Policy

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed announced a new social support program for citizens in the emirate to double the number of the government's annual subsidized housing loans.

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Trade Wars and Bond-Offs: Side Effects of Tariffs and Tactical Borrowing Hit the Gulf

There are simultaneous efforts by Qatar and Saudi Arabia to attract investors for new bond issues this week. The “bond-off,” or race to sale, is yet a new example of the use of economic means to achieve political ends.

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U.S.-Saudi Economic Ties: Why Saudi Arabia Matters

Though the Oil Link may be broken, the United States and Saudi Arabia remain linked by economic and investment ties, energy markets and a shared interest in global economic stability.

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Let Me Entertain You: Saudi Arabia’s New Enthusiasm for Fun

Social outings with mixed genders, open cinemas, and performing arts represent a dramatic reversal from the past when Saudis pursued their amusements in private or abroad. What explains the government’s new enthusiasm for fun?

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Saudi Economic Reform Update: Saudization and Expat Exodus

Saudization, or the reservation of certain jobs and sectors for Saudi nationals, is part of the government’s effort to transform its private sector.

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Rising Stakes in Saudi Arabia’s Transformation

The transformation underway in Saudi Arabia continues to send regular shockwaves through business and diplomatic circles.

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Saudi Arabia’s Neom: State-Led Growth Meets New Global Capitalism

Mohammed bin Salman envisions a new kind of Saudi Arabia, or at least the opening of a space complete with yoga studios, beach resorts, and robots in place of migrant laborers. This is the image of Neom.

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Driving in a New Direction: Sweeping Changes in Saudi Arabia

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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The Coming Economic Disorder: The Political Perils of Economic Liberalization in the Gulf

Economic liberalization tends to bring with it social, if not always political, openings. By definition, liberalization challenges existing orders.

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Saudi Arabia Transforming

Saudi Arabia has embarked on an ambitious program of national transformation aiming to diversify the economy away from oil dependence, expand the private sector, and transform government practice.

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As Reform Agenda Waffles, Citizens Take Life to the Streets

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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A Saudi Course Correction

On April 25 the Saudi government reached the one-year mark since the launch of its ambitious program of governmental reform, Saudi Vision 2030.

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Restructuring of Saudi Arabia’s Energy Industry Gathers Pace

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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Reformers are Holding Ground: Saudi Arabia’s New Fiscal Policy

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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Saudi Arabia’s Impeccable Timing in Debt Markets

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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Mobilizing Private Investment in Saudi Infrastructure

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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Saudi Vision 2030 and “A Day in Riyadh”

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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For Saudi Economic Reforms, Timing is Everything

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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Journalist Khaled Almaeena Evaluates the Saudi National Transformation Program

Khaled Almaeena, a leading Saudi journalist and former editor-in-chief of the Saudi Gazette, joined AGSIW for a closed roundtable discussion on the Saudi National Transformation Program 2020 and Vision 2030.

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Saudi Students Welcome Vision 2030

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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This Time We Mean It: Staying the Course on Economic Reforms

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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New Saudi Energy Ministry Seen as Key to Economic Reform

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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Saudis Respond to Vision 2030

On April 25, the Saudi government presented to the public Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a sweeping plan for moving the kingdom beyond oil dependence.

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Saudi’s Summer of Anticipation

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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Youth Appeal of Saudi Vision 2030

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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Understanding Vision 2030: Anticipating Economic Change in Saudi Arabia

This post is part of an AGSIW series on Saudi Vision 2030, a sweeping set of programs and reforms adopted by the Saudi government to be implemented by 2030.

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Through its careful examination of the forces shaping the evolution of Gulf societies and the new generation of emerging leaders, AGSIW facilitates a richer understanding of the role the countries in this key geostrategic region can be expected to play in the 21st century.

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