The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is marking its 93rd National Day, while its citizens enjoy prosperity, stability, and security, thanks to the wise leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the ambitious visions of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister.
Recently, the Saudi General Entertainment Authority launched a new identity for the annual celebration, "We Dream and Achieve." The theme is inspired by the goals set by the Saudi leadership and people in the “Saudi Vision 2030”. It indicates that Saudi Arabia is reaping the fruits of those goals, whose positive impacts are clear in all aspects of life. Thanks to that vision, the kingdom has consolidated its strength, status and strategic weight, and maintained its pivotal regional and global role, in a bid to transform the dream into reality.
While marking its 93rd National Day, Saudi Arabia carries on its nation-building process and dedicated work to ensure the well-being of its people and uphold the values of the state, loyalty, belonging and national pride, following in the footsteps of the Founding King and his sons, the successive kings. Indeed, the Kingdom has made qualitative leaps in economic, political, military, security and social fields, becoming a major country that influences the global decision-making process through its membership in the Group of Twenty (G20).
- Bahrain, Saudi Arabia: Similar future visions
Both the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 and Saudi Vision 2030 aim to achieve the development goals set by the United Nations Millennium Declaration (UNMD) in 2000, in line with the aspirations of the two kingdoms’ leaderships for more stability and progress.
The Kingdom of Bahrain was the first country to launch its Vision 2030 in response to the UNMD. His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa endorsed the Vision in October 2008, charting the clear paths of development and economic growth. This reflected the Bahrain’s efforts and keenness to build a better life for all its citizens, based on development and sustainability, by implementing many economic programmes and initiatives in coordination and cooperation among government agencies, the private sector and civil society institutions.
As to the Saudi Vision 2030, which was launched in 2016 with the support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz, it represents a special vision of HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to achieve a promising future for Saudi Arabia by investing in its distinguished strategic position, pioneering investment capabilities and unique Arab and Islamic depth.
- Saudi 2030: A dream close to coming true
The Saudi Vision 2030 takes advantage of the Kingdom’s strengths, as it is the land of the Two Holy Mosques, and therefore the destination for more than a billion Muslims. It is also capable of adapting its investment power to create a more diversified and sustainable economy. In addition, its strategic location enables it to be a major driver of international trade, linking the three continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe.
The Saudi 2030 Vision is a roadmap that leverages God-given strengths, including strategic location, investment power and centrality in the Arab and Islamic worlds. The Vision was cascaded into a set of strategic objectives within the “National Transformation Programme”, to pave the way for their implementation through the “Vision Realisation Programmes”.
The Saudi Vision 2030 is based primarily on three main strategic pillars, namely “A Vibrant society”, “A Thriving Economy”, and “An ambitious Nation”. These pillars are divided into 96 sub-goals, which are being implemented through 11 programmes to achieve the vision.
Over the past eight years, Saudi Arabia has mobilised all its potential and unique capabilities to achieve the goals set in its 2030 Vision, succeeding in attaining extraordinary results and achievements in a short period of time, including the interim goals targeting the years 2020 and 2021 in the three main pillars.
Concerning the first pillar, “A Vibrant Society”, Saudi Arabia has made progress in adopting healthy lifestyles and raising the quality of life for its citizens and improving the services provided to Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. It also has paid attention to archaeological sites and succeeded in inscribing them in the UNESCO World Heritage List, and implemented integrated educational, health and housing initiatives. In addition, it has succeeded in placing itself on the global entertainment and tourism map through a package of events, seasons, entertainment programmes and distinguished tourism projects.
Regarding the second pillar, “A Thriving Economy”, Saudi Arabia has made major strides in the comprehensive economic reform process, achieving higher ranks in global competitiveness indicators and clinching the first place concerning reforms related to reforms for working women and the business environment. Moreover, the contribution of small and medium enterprises to the country’s GDP has increased. Also, non-oil revenues went up significantly in 2020, and the assets of the Public Investment Fund, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, grew sharply. Furthermore, modern economic sectors emerged, and opportunities for growth and investment in the non-oil, financial and digital sectors have been created.
As for the third pillar, “An Ambitious Nation”, Saudi Arabia has made remarkable progress in the fields of “Effective Government” and “Responsible Citizenship”. The efficiency of government services and their response mechanism have increased through investment in government digital transformation, providing greater opportunities and initiatives for sustainable development, preserving the environment, and openness to the world, which laid solid foundations for future success. In addition, it relied on its qualified national cadres by localising professions.
- World-standard Saudi mega projects:
Through Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia aims to implement a package of over 80 giant national projects through its sovereign fund, the Public Investment Fund. The projects, covering diverse fields of economic activity, will create enormous job opportunities, advance economic development through non-oil sources, and highlight the kingdom’s economic, social, cultural, tourism, environmental and civilisational diversity, the essence and core of Vision 2030.
Through its Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia aims to achieve several strategic goals, including reducing dependency on oil, by increasing non-oil revenues and investing in renewable alternative energy through cooperation with GCC countries. It has also announced the acceleration of the clean energy transition to reach zero carbon neutrality by 2060 AD, showing its serious commitment to addressing challenges of energy and climate change, by participating in international efforts to build a future based on sustainable development and green societies.
The Saudi 2030 Vision also aims to increase the number of annual Hajj and Umrah pilgrims to 30 million by 2030, which requires providing and developing the infrastructure surrounding the Two Holy Mosques in Mecca and Medina, such as the new Jeddah International Airport and Taif Airport, in addition to continuing the expansion work in the vicinity of the Holy Mosque in Mecca.
Over the past 93 years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has attained landmark wide-ranging achievements thanks to its wise leadership and ambitious vision, becoming an inspiring regional and global leading country.
While launching the Saudi Vision 2030, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud pledged that the Kingdom would harness all its capabilities and potential to implement national development projects so that the country becomes a pioneering model for success at all levels.
The vision of HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in line with the aspirations of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. HRH embarked on implementing it by building a strong and prosperous nation characterised by science, training, transparency and equal opportunities. It is an all-inclusive state that meets the aspirations of all its citizens.
Source: Bahrain News Agency