Saudi diplomatic drive from Beijing to New York
23 October 2016
By Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi
In just three days (from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21), Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif,
deputy prime minister and minister of interior, managed to participate in
sixteen activities. On Monday, he gave two major speeches at the UN Summit for
Refugees and Migrants and Leaders' Summit on Refugees.
On Tuesday, he held six important meetings with Australian Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull, French President Francois Hollande, Spain's King Felipe VI,
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Later in the day, he attended the reception ceremony of Saudi students.
The next day, Wednesday, the Crown Prince met with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Omani Foreign Minister,
Yusuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister, Sheikh
Abdullah Bin Zayed, US Secretary of Homeland Security Geh Johnson and Director
of UN Center for Counter-Terrorism Jehangir Khan.
An American political journalist commented: So much action in so short time!
Saudi Arabia seems more active and alive these days than ever. In two years,
King Salman and his crown prince and deputy crown prince, have attended so
many conferences, made so many international visits and received dozens of
world leaders. So did Saudi ministers and high officials.
Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, alone, has probably visited most UN members.
He went all the way from North and South America to Russia, China, Japan,
India, Pakistan, Indonesia and many other nations in Central and South East
Asia. Sub-Saharan countries were also visited and invited, from South Africa,
Nigeria and Kenia to Sudan, Uganda and Ethiopia. As a result, Saudi Arabia
today is an observer member of the organization of African Union. Other
ministers and senior officials have also visited, invited and participated in
numerous conferences and seminars.
As a result, tens of agreements were signed in many fields, including
military, commerce, investments, industry, energy, construction, tourism and
entertainment. Cooperation councils at ministerial level were formed with
regional and international powers, like Egypt, Turkey and China.
Lately, Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman visited Pakistan, Japan and
China, and met with scores of world leaders. He also met with high officials
in wide ranges of industries, including banking, petrochemical, pharmaceutical
and technology.
All such vigorous communication raises the question, why? Why now? Could it be
the Saudi way to extinguish the fires in its neighborhood?
Is the government in desperate search for solutions to hot issues, like that
of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen? Or is it a bid to form a regional and
global alliance to face terrorism and defeat Daesh (the so-called IS), Al-Qaeda
and others? Or is the kingdom in the search for partners and allies in its
confrontation with Iran and its militias in the region, such as Hezbollah and
the Houthis?
Also, Saudi leaders are working on the economic fronts so aggressively. Could
it be that their prime motivation is to market the new Saudi Vision 2030 and
recruit investors, partners and supporters? Since Saudi is building one of the
world most modern armies, can we assume that a major part of its drive is to
domesticate arm industry, and provide the military and security forces with
more sophisticated armaments?
I told him: All the above is true and more! Our leadership is acutely aware of
the challenges we face. Therefore, Saudi is seeking partnerships and alliances
with fellow Arab and Muslim nations, as well as American, Asian, African and
even Russian. You see we all have a stake in this. The fires we try to
extinguish have produced Daesh and company, fostered terrorism, driven
millions of people away from their homes, and created the refugee and
migration crisis we have today.
Terrorism is a by product of the these crises. Iran and its militias have had
sponsored terrorist acts all over the world, since the start of the Khomeini
revolution. The Revolutionary Guards, the Quds Legion, the Iranian
Intelligence, together with their terrorist regional organizations, such as
Hezbollah, have been indicted in numerous crimes around the world, including
hijacking of airline, abduction of Westerners, assassination of leaders and
diplomats, compound bombing, embassy burning, drug trafficking, money
laundering and trade of human organs. Countries affected, included US, Canada,
Mexico, Panama, Argentina, Germany, Holland, Bulgaria, and many Arab, African
and Asian nations.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia is pursuing its development plans today, and
planning for tomorrow. Oil is not going to last, and should not be our primary
source of income. We are seeing a future with more investment in
industrialization, tourism, and services. Our vision 2030 will rebuild our
economy on more solid bases, and to succeed, we need strong partners with the
know-how and capital required.
Cooperation is the key word in our drive to reach out to the world. We need to
build strong alliances and partnerships with all key players in every field.
Time is short for such grand vision and aspirations and we need to do much
more and run much faster to achieve our objectives.
My American colleague pondered over my answers, then shot back: This is a very
long list of major challenges and ambitious projects, how much success do you
expect?
I answered with confidence: All, my friend, and more!
— Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah. He can be
reached at kbatarfi@gmail.com. Follow him at Twitter:@kbatarfi
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