Saudi Arabia 2030 Plan:-
In 2016, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman announced Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030. Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 plan is to reform the Saudi economy and society. In 2014 when global oil prices collapsed and country faced economic challenges so, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his son Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (now the crown prince) responded and developed economic and social reform plan, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Vision . After 2014 oil price collapse, Saudi Arabia now faces another economic crisis. It may feel there is need to reevaluate some of its vision 2030 programs.
Objectives of Saudi Arabia 2030 plan:-
This vision is based on three objectives:-
- A Vibrant Society
- A Thriving Economy
- An Ambitious Nation
- A Vibrant Society:-
The first objective of vision 2030 is about better quality of life, promoting Saudi Arabia’s cultural heritage, urbanism, entertainment, sports, increasing the number of Umrah visitors from 8 million to 30 million annually, UNESCO, beautiful environment and religious history and promoting cultural and entertainment opportunities. If Saudi Arabia achieve a vibrant society, so Saudi Arabia will focus on its people and the Islamic world. Saudi Arabia 2030 vision means to enhance social development in order to build a strong and productive society and provide education that builds children’s character, and establish empowering health and social care systems.
The 2030 plan outlines the following goals to attain a vibrant society.
- To increase household spending on cultural and entertainment activities.
- To increase women’s participation in the workforce to 30% from 22%
- To reduce the rate of unemployment to 7% from 11.6%
- A thriving economy:-
The second aim is to achieve a thriving economy. Such as employment, women in the workforce, Public Investment Fund, foreign direct investment, entrepreneurship and innovation, non-oil exports, establishing a sovereign wealth fund that will be financed through the partial IPO of Saudi Aramco; and build a comprehensive education system to enhance non-energy economic sectors. Saudi Arabia will have five universities by 2030.
The 2030 plan outlines the following goals to attain a thriving economy.
- To increase the private sector’s contribution to 65% of GDP from 40%
- To increase non-oil government revenue to SAR1tn from SAR163bn.
- To increase foreign direct investment to the global level of 5.7% of GDP from 3.8%
- To increase the non-profit sector’s contribution to the GDP to 5% from less than 1%
- An ambitious nation:-
The third goal is to focus on the progressiveness of Saudi’s government by increasing the portion of non-oil revenues and improving overall government effectiveness, household savings and income, non-profits and volunteering.
The 2030 vision outlines the following goals to attain an ambitious nation:-
- To rank 20th on the government effectiveness index from 80th
- To improve the efficiency of various government departments and establish committees to review them.
- To reduce bureaucracy and improve transparency in government programs.
What does 2030 vision mean
Saudi’s vision 2030 is about national sociopolitical and economic reform to reduce its dependence on crude oil through economic diversification and a series of public services’ development such as health, education and infrastructure because the government still 75% dependent on oil. The main objective of 2030 vision is to increase the portion of non-oil business sectors, such as tourism, banking, reductions in subsidies and the IT sector and show secular national image on the global stage. Another objective is to increase government spending on the military, as well as manufacturing equipment and ammunition. This plan is based on the three pillars: The first one is the status of the country in the world. The second pillar is about the determination that the country has to become a global investment powerhouse. The third pillar is the strategic location of the country on the map.
Societal Improvement and Unity:-
The main objective of Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030 is to protect the culture and traditions of the society. It is important to country that it pays more attention to strengthen its hold on culture and maintain an environment where people feel secure.
Building Infrastructure and sustainability:-
To make friendly environment because it improves its image in the international market.
Better Economy:-
The country aims to provide equal opportunities to people.
Implementing Transparency:-
The main aim of this 2030 vision is to ensure that in the next 15 years we will implement a system that is more transparent and clear.
Leveraging its Unique position:-
Saudi Arabia is located in important international trade routes between three continents: Asia, Europe and Africa. So the aim of Saudi Arabia is to get benefits from this strategic geographic position, through new strategic partnerships to grow the economy and help Saudi companies to increase exports.
Israel Vision and Jews in Saudi Arabia:-
Saudi Arabia and Israel have committed to rational and balanced foreign policies over the past 70 years. Hundreds of Jews are working in Saudi Arabia, jews in Saudi Arabia contributing to its financial, infrastructure, and energy projects. To illustrate this, Arabs and Jews were the strongest partners in trade, culture and mutual security, jews are living in Saudi Arabia in relatively peaceful coexistence for centuries. Israel contributing in Saudi Arabia’s biggest economic transition. It is a great opportunity for Israel to take part in the Saudi economy and it is also a Israel vision, After all, Israel is technologically advanced country in the field of mining, with a robust, globally recognized diamond industry. Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the world without any source of flowing water, Israel is also a world leader in the water engineering industry that’s why Israel vision is contributing in Saudi’s vision 2030.
Saudi Arabia’s Development Strategic Plans:-
Since the five-year plans starts, Saudi Arabia has adopted a comprehensive planning approach. This development plan maintains a balance between the economic growth and the maintenance of great values and legacies.
Saudi Arabia’s Quest for Power:-
Saudi Arabia has regarded itself as the natural leader of the Islamic world. Saudi Arabia’s quest for power is about to maintain its dominance over the Muslim world. Saudi Arabia aims to maintain hegemony in Egypt. When protests started in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia immediately sent its military support to this country. After overthrow of Mubarak, Saudi Arabia provided major financial support for Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s coup. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia launched military operations in Yemen because Saudi wanted to maintain its control on Yemen. Saudi Arabia considers the Houthis as Iranian substitutes.
The government has set goals but also announce a detailed plan to achieve these goals.
Privatization / Divestment:-
Saudi plans to value state oil company Saudi Aramco at more than USD2tn. It will increase the efficiency of the fund’s management and diversifying government resources and the economy. Prince Mohammad bin Salman plans to transform Aramco from an oil producing company into a global industrial conglomerate.
Public Investment Fund (PIF):-
Saudi Arabia would raise the fund’s capital to SAR7tn (USD2tn) from SAR600bn (USD 160bn).
Tourism:-
Government improving the quality of the services offered to Umrah visitors. Another plan is to build an Islamic museum in accordance with global standards. Further, the government plans to double the number of Saudi heritage sites by 2030.
Education:-
The government plans to have at least five Saudi Universities by 2030. The government plans to create suitable job opportunities for citizens.
Expatriates:-
The government plans to improve living and working conditions for non-Saudis and adopting an effective and simple system for issuing visas and residence permits.
Social:-
The government aims to achieve the following objectives by 2030.
To reduce the rate of unemployment from 11.6% to 7% and increase women’s participation in the workforce from 22% to 30%.
The government plans to promoting private medical insurance to improve access to medical services.
Saudi’s Vision 2030 Progress:-
This plan move the country away from its reliance on oil exports and fossil fuel extraction. After announcement of 2030 plan, Saudi Arabia expanding its environment projects, including encouraging the use of a circular economy. And expanding the proportion of solar and hydrogen projects. The main objective of Saudi Arabia’s plan 2030 is to generate 50% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. The impact of fluctuating and unstable oil prices, Saudi Arabia has taken these steps to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on oil. Saudi Arabia aims to boost its financial industry to reduce its reliance on the oil industry. Another major objective of Saudi Arabia is to develop its renewable energy sector. Saudi Arabia has been operating the 300MW Sakak plant.
Furthermore, the Saudi government announced USD$30billion in the renewable energy sector by 2025 to reduce domestic reliance on oil. If increasing Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy so it reduces domestic emissions. Saudi Arabia 2030 vision promotes sustainable business sectors to increase job opportunities for future younger generations. The major problems to implementing “vision 2030’ are, structural. The basic nature of the Saudi state is a federation of powerful tribes based on a bond between the Al-Saud royal family and the Wahhabi clerics, is hardly favorable to modernization efforts. The government has already started working to achieving its vision 2030 with numerous programs.
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