Earlier this month Prince Turki al-Faisal talked to CNN's Wolf Blitzer about a number of issues of the day including the cartoon controversy, the tragic loss of a ferry sailing from Saudi Arabia to Egypt and other concerns shared by Americans and Saudi Arabians. This week Prince Turki returned to American television, this time on Public Broadcasting's Charlie Rose interview show. It was just one of a number of recent public appearances that permitted him to, as he put it, "try to explain what Saudi Arabia is, where it comes from and where it is going." [Check the SUSRIS.org web site for transcripts of other public remarks.]

SUSRIS is pleased to present a transcript of Charlie Rose's interview with Prince Turki.  The broadcast originally aired February 13, 2006. The ambassador discussed the bilateral relationship, Saudi Arabia's role in the production of much of the world's energy supplies (Part 1), developments in Iraq and Iran, the partnership between the US and Saudi Arabia in the war on terror (Part 2) and the situation between Palestinians and Israelis (Part 3). It is presented in three sections due to its length.

Prince Turki Al-Faisal was appointed Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States in July 2005. He presented his credentials to President George Bush in Washington on December 2, 2005. He succeeded Prince Bandar bin Sultan who served as Saudi Ambassador in Washington from 1983 to 2005. Prince Turki attended Georgetown University in Washington. He was appointed an Advisor in the Royal Court in 1973. From 1977 to 2001, he served as the Director General of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID), the Kingdom�s main foreign intelligence service. In 2002, he was appointed Ambassador of to the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. 

Prince Turki al-Faisal Talks With Charlie Rose
The Charlie Rose Show - PBS
February 13, 2006 - Part 1

CHARLIE ROSE: Prince Turki Al-Faisal is here. He is Saudi Arabia�s ambassador to the United States. He succeeded Prince Bandar at the end of last year. From 2002 until 2005, he served as his nation�s ambassador to Great Britain. 

From 1977 until 2001, he was the director of the Saudi Arabian Foreign Intelligence Service. For more than 25 years, he spearheaded Saudi Arabian efforts in the Cold War, including the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. 

He now returns to this country, where he attended high school and Georgetown University. I am pleased to have him back on this program. Welcome back. 

PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL: Good evening, Mr. Rose. Thank you for receiving me. 

ROSE: And you reminded me that your brother was here in 2004..

PRINCE TURKI: Yes, indeed.

ROSE: .. the foreign minister. You�re here to dedicate a new consulate..

PRINCE TURKI: That�s right.

ROSE: .. in New York and to speak at the Council on Foreign Relations. 

PRINCE TURKI: Yes. This morning we had the ceremony of dedicating the new consulate building near the United Nations. Also this evening, I will be speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations. 

ROSE: And taking questions and engaging a dialogue there? 

PRINCE TURKI: That�s right. 

ROSE: How do you characterize U.S.-Saudi relations today? 

PRINCE TURKI: I think they�re improving. On the official level, they�ve never been better. King Abdullah met with President Bush last April, when the king was still crown prince. This was the second meeting that they had. And they, as you say in America, they hit it off from the beginning. 

ROSE: Yes. Or as Margaret Thatcher once said of Mr. Gorbachev, �I can do business with Mr. Gorbachev.�

PRINCE TURKI: Well, more than that. I think they reached some kind of intellectual empathy for each other and developed mutual admiration for each other. 

ROSE: You can notice that in the photograph. 

PRINCE TURKI: Absolutely. And so since then, government-to-government business has been going very, very smoothly. 

We have a long way to go still in your country, following from the September 11th attacks on the United States, not just with the people of the United States, but also, more importantly and just as equally significantly, with the Congress in the United States. 

So my brief from my government is to approach those two, if you like, entities, the Congress and the American people, as much as I can, and help and try to explain what Saudi Arabia is, where it comes from and where it is going. 

ROSE: Take a look at this. This was the president at his State of the Union address. Here it is. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy, and here we have a serious problem. America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. 

The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper and more reliable alternative energy sources, and we�re on the threshold of incredible advances. 

Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal -- to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. 

By applying -- by applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSE: When you heard this, it is said, you called up the White House and said, what did he mean? And what resulted was a meeting with Stephen Hadley, the National Security Adviser. 

PRINCE TURKI: Yes, indeed. As you know, as I told you, when the king met with the president last April, they agreed on a joint energy policy, whereby Saudi Arabia would increase oil production, and with investment amounting to nearly $50 billion over the next few years to increase that production, and also increase the refining capacity for oil products, plus joint energy research into making fossil fuels and oil more ecologically friendly and thereby less dangerous to use than it might be now. 

So the president�s statement, of course, was a surprise to -- not just to me, but to all of us in the area, and hence my seeking to get explanation from the White House. 

I talked with Adviser Hadley on that issue, and the talks will continue through other means and officials, and through me and Mr. Hadley and others in your administration. 

ROSE: Were you disappointed by it? Did you think that it suggested America doesn�t understand the nature of its -- the use of oil in this country, or where it gets its oil from, or the impact of buying less oil from Saudi Arabia? 

PRINCE TURKI: As a diplomat, one of the things I�ve learned over the last three years is not to be disappointed. I think we and the United States have worked very closely over the last 60 years on many issues of importance, not the least of which was the oil issue, and therefore my major thrust now is to get as much as possible clarification of where the United States is planning to go on this issue. 

And as I told you, Mr. Rose, others in the administration will be carrying the ball forward and talking with their counterparts. 

ROSE: You mean oil ministers and foreign ministers? 

PRINCE TURKI: Oil ministers, foreign ministers, maybe even the president and the king. But what I received from Mr. Hadley was a very thorough discussion of this issue, which is not surprising. As I told you, the relationship between our two governments now are extremely good. 

ROSE: It is said that the United States, many people, Tom Friedman and others, as you know, write about this oil addiction and say the United States has to reduce its dependence on Middle Eastern oil, because it affects the politics, that we find ourselves with Iran or with Saudi Arabia or with other places. If we don�t reduce our dependence, we will be in an entangling foreign policy relationship. 

PRINCE TURKI: Mr. Rose, the United States imports about 15 percent of its oil imports from the Middle East. Out of that proportion, probably 10 percent of that, slightly more, comes from Saudi Arabia. And Saudi Arabia, particularly, has been very consistent and very stable as an oil producer for the last 50 to 55 years. So we see no endangerment for U.S. requirements when it comes to importing oil from Saudi Arabia. 

As to entanglements, the United States, if I may say, is entangled in the Middle East not simply for the oil issue. You have issues like Palestine and Israel, where that has become, if you like, a major issue in the United States politics itself internally. 

ROSE: And a factor in America�s relationship in the region. 

PRINCE TURKI: Absolutely. You have the issue of Iraq now, since the American invasion of Iraq. The issue of terrorism. So the entanglement is there, regardless of where the oil is and where it comes from. And the point that we�ve always made to our American friends on oil is that the kingdom�s policy is to, as much as possible, meet world requirements and help maintain equitable prices and supplies of oil, for not just the United States, because the United States, after all, is a rich and wealthy country that can afford to pay the prices of oil when it goes up, but the poor nations are the ones that suffer. We have that concern as well, and we have a very huge aid program to poor countries in order to try to help them, perhaps sometimes offset the costs of the rise in oil prices. 

So we�ve been a consistent and very stable supplier of oil to the world community, and we do not give the United States or export to the United States more than 10 percent of its oil. So weaning away, as it were, or an addiction are words that perhaps I think from our point of view, need more clarification. 

ROSE: At the same time, it is noted by everyone that the king went to China. 

PRINCE TURKI: Yes. 

ROSE: That China has a huge demand for oil, and that demand in part and the demand of India is helping push up the price of oil. 

PRINCE TURKI: Yes.

ROSE: And some wonder if the kingdom is looking east now and developing other relationships to counter-balance its traditional relationship with the United States. 

PRINCE TURKI: We don�t think we need to counter-balance our relationship with the United States. The market for oil is an international market. It�s a fungible market, where everybody pours in what they have in the pot, and then people draw from the pot, regardless of where the oil comes from, whether it is the Middle East, West Africa, Northern Europe, Canada, etcetera. 

China and India are in the market for oil. We have oil to sell. So the king has gone there and hopefully expanded the trading relationship with both countries. 

But may I remind you also that the United States is going to China, and also .. 

ROSE: Everybody in the world is going to China. 

PRINCE TURKI: .. expanding their trade with China. So there is no contradiction whatsoever or competition in our eyes from selling to China and India and maintaining a stable and thoroughly beneficial relationship in oil exports to the United States. 

ROSE: At the same time, China is going to Iran and China is going to Venezuela and going to other places. 

PRINCE TURKI: Going everywhere, yes. I�m sure from Canada and Mexico, as well, your traditional suppliers. 

ROSE: You mentioned a stable, and certainly Saudi Arabia, with its capacity, has done a lot within OPEC and raising its own production to maintain a stable price. It is now around $60, is it not? 

PRINCE TURKI: Yes. 

ROSE: If it -- what`s the impact? Where do you think this price is going to stabilize? And what impact will it have on the global economy? 

PRINCE TURKI: I am not an expert on these things.. 

ROSE: I understand, but you�re part of the conversation in your country...

PRINCE TURKI: Indeed.

ROSE: .. because of the central role you play. 

PRINCE TURKI: I will tell you what our oil minister said at a recent speech that he gave in Houston..

ROSE: (INAUDIBLE) Cambridge Energy..

PRINCE TURKI: .. just a few days ago, in which he said that from his point of view as the man who is responsible for oil production and so on, price range between $40 and $50 per barrel now seems to be the acceptable range that people can afford within the framework of the world market for oil. And also, I would like to remind you that in real terms, the price of oil today is less than it was in 1970 in dollar terms, taking inflation into consideration. 

So of all of the commodities that have been sold in the marketplace over the last 35 years or so, oil is the only commodity that has remained below its actual price in 1970 terms. You take other commodities -- coffee, other minerals, gold, silver, etcetera -- you name it, they�ve all gone way beyond their original prices back in 1970. 

And as said, oil is a fungible commodity, where everybody pours their exports into this big world bowl, and the buyers exact and buy from that bowl what they can. 

ROSE: But you are also saying if oil stays at $60 a barrel, it could have a real detrimental impact on the world economy? 

PRINCE TURKI: And that�s why we�re working very hard to try to bring the price of oil down. As I told you, the king agreed with the president on Saudi Arabia increasing its oil production. Now we produce about 11 million barrels at maximum production rate from the kingdom. We�re raising that to 12.5 in the next three years. And putting in nearly $50 billion on the ground in order to bring that extra oil up. 

Our investments in refineries are also as extensive. Two new refineries are being built in the kingdom that will produce nearly 800,000 barrels per day when they come onstream in a couple of years. We�re investing in China with a new refinery there. In India, we�re also investing. In Korea. So refining capacity is being increased with Saudi money in order to bring down the price of petroleum products. 

That�s the main reason for the oil price rise. It�s the fact that the refining capacity is short. 

ROSE: Right. People like Lee Raymond from Exxon have made the same point here. 

PRINCE TURKI: And we�ve been trying to sell in the last couple of years from Saudi Arabia nearly 500,000 barrels of raw oil, but nobody is buying it, because there is no refining capacity for that kind of oil. It is heavy crude, which is more difficult to refine and so on. 

ROSE: But I have seen numbers like this, and that -- today I think production -- worldwide production of oil is about 80 million barrels a day. I think I�ve seen numbers that say by the year 2025, 19 years now, the worldwide need for oil will be 119 million barrels a day. An extraordinary growing demand. Is there in your judgment, before we move to these other points and geostrategic questions, is there enough oil to serve the demand, new discoveries to be made, and is the growth in new sources going to keep up with the demand? 

PRINCE TURKI: These are big ifs, and you have to have, of course, real strategic stability in order to make sure that production costs and increase in production takes place, for example, in countries like Iraq. Iraq is a country that is second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of reserves, yet today it only produces something a little bit less than two million barrels a day. 

If that country can get its act together, and hopefully with the help of the contiguous countries, like Saudi Arabia and others, and the United States and the world community, that that will come about. Iraq can increase its production in the next 15 years dramatically to meet world demand as it grows. Saudi Arabia has reserves, nearly I think 250 billion barrels underground that will be increased in terms of production. Other countries in the area and in other places. 

ROSE: Libya, for example? 

PRINCE TURKI: Well, Libya. You have West Africa. You have other Gulf states. You have countries like Egypt. Mauritania has just discovered oil. We think that there will probably be oil in places like Morocco and in other countries that can hopefully meet the requirements by 2025, as you said. Or -- I don`t remember the date that you mentioned. 

ROSE: 2025, 19 years. 

PRINCE TURKI: Yes. To meet world requirements. But, of course, regardless of what you and I say about this issue, in the final analysis, the market will decide whether there is enough oil or not. And if there isn�t, then people will invest in alternatives. And those alternatives, of course, are there. They�re more expensive than oil, but when the people face the situation that they have to turn to these alternatives, they will do that. 

Source: SaudiEmbassy.net

Prince Turki al-Faisal Talks With Charlie Rose
The Charlie Rose Show - PBS
February 13, 2006

• Part 1 - Relations, Oil

• Part 2 - Iraq, Iran, War on Terror

• Part 3 - Middle East Peace

• Issues of the Day: Saudi Ambassador to the US On Sunday Talk Show - SUSRIS IOI - Feb. 6, 2006

• Community and Cooperation - Prince Turki Al-Faisal - SUSRIS IOI - December 2, 2005

• The Global Scourge of Terrorism: Ambassador Prince Turki al Faisal Shares His Outlook - SUSRIS Item of Interest - Nov. 8, 2005

• Prince Turki Al-Faisal's Views on Terrorist Attacks and Bin Laden - SUSRIS IOI - Dec. 7, 2004

• Saudi ambassador�s credentials accepted by United States

• Transcript of interview with Prince Turki Al-Faisal in the New York Times Magazine

• Prince Turki Al-Faisal interviewed on CNN�s �Wolf Blitzer reports�

• The Charlie Rose Show

About Prince Turki al Faisal

• Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia Bio

• BBC Profile

• Global Security.org