Editor's
Note:
In February 2001 a group of visiting Americans heard the future King of Saudi
Arabia, Crown Prince Abdullah, say, "We have a saying in Arabic that 'A friend is someone who will be straightforward with you.'" It cleared the air for the frank discussion that followed, of the challenges that confronted the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Last year an "Open Letter" from Saudi businessman Amr Khashoggi was similarly frank, sincere and straightforward. It was a letter from the heart to friends. SUSRIS shared his letter with you for your consideration and now has asked Mr. Khashoggi to update his message. In this SUSRIS interview he gives his perspective on what has changed since he penned his "open letter" and describes his views on what remains to be done.
An Open Letter from a Saudi Businessman Revisited
A Conversation with Amr Khashoggi
SUSRIS:
Thank you, Mr. Khashoggi, for sharing your perspective again on the relationship between Americans and Saudi Arabians. Your
�Open
Letter� last year, called �Working Shoulder to Shoulder,� attracted considerable attention, with many readers writing to you to share their views. Today I�d like to ask you about your current perceptions of the issues you addressed in the �Open Letter� early last year.
Amr Khashoggi: Firstly I would like to thank all the readers of the original article who wrote back to me with their well thought out responses and valuable comments. I have received positive, negative and some nasty emails from people from all over the world. Some took it personally and defensively. That was certainly not my intention, as I was critical of both sides, the U.S. and the Saudi.
We are still faced with a serious case of misunderstanding, misconception and deep ignorance and lack of awareness of the situation. We still have a lot to do to bridge the chasm created by extremists on both sides and their cohorts. When we stiffen our positions and dig our heals into the ground and shut our ears to honest, transparent and civil dialogue between our two nations, then the chasm will get bigger and we cannot build on our common values nor can we be in a position to respect our legitimate differences.
SUSRIS: Can you reflect on the progress that has been made in that effort since you wrote your letter?
Khashoggi: I have thought long and hard about this question in order to give it a fair shake. I�ve found there is no clear and single answer. I think we have made some progress in creating some awareness thanks to the efforts of organizations like SUSRIS and the Committee on International Trade of the Saudi Chambers of Commerce � through information and outreach. However, we are not yet working
shoulder-to-shoulder in the full sense. There is trepidation and lack of trust among many on both sides. The efforts that are made are sporadic and superficial. The efforts are not sufficient enough to make an impact, in terms of frequency and consistency and depth. There has been some progress in the education field and, to a certain extent, among the business community. Unfortunately many in the American media are still busy with their campaigns against Saudi Arabia.
SUSRIS: Your letter, written in a spirit of honesty and transparency, took a critical look at shortcomings on both sides -- the United States and Saudi Arabia. You said the Arab world was learning to "come clean," to admit weaknesses and to develop "homegrown solutions" to problems. What is your current assessment of the shortcomings and the solutions?
Khashoggi: We have made some progress in addressing the problems we face. Our education system is going through a major reform process, but it cannot be done quickly enough. We have opened the doors to local and foreign investors in the education field. We are also inviting major universities and colleges from all over the world to come to Saudi Arabia and create universities and colleges there. However, we need many folds the number of universities and colleges to meet the growing demand of our students, especially when 60% of our population consists of men and women under the age of 20. We need to provide them with skills and abilities that would map with the job requirements. We need to make them educated, efficient, and employable.
In fact, a group of business and community leaders from Saudi Arabia and Jordan and I are organizing a conference on the �Next Generation� � the �Youth Bulge� � next spring in Jordan under the auspices of Her Majesty Queen Ranya. The attendees of this conference, by invitation only, are major decision makers in the Arab world. A select group of business leaders from the region and from abroad will be working closely on our steering committee. The attendees will focus on providing a "regional context" in order to set the stage, create awareness, and present the challenges of education and employment in the Arab world.
The �Youth Bulge� that may cause a �Youth Quake� or �Youth Volcano� is waiting for all of us to help them secure their future. 50-65% of the population of the Arab world is under the age of 24. The high proportion of young people creates a persistent pressure on the labor market. Arab states need to create 80-100 million new jobs by 2020, a mere 13 years hence, in order to accommodate the entry of their young population into the labor market. A growing private sector is an important source of employment for Arab youth. However, a marked absence of relevant skills and educational background contributes to continued unemployment among university graduates.
We are looking at creating several initiatives as a result of this conference, especially in public-private partnership to achieve our goals of making sure our young boys and girls are educated, efficient and employable. This is one step in the right direction, but I believe it is an important one that gives young people hope for a peaceful future rather than a fertile field for discontent and extremism. Without jobs, our young will resort to any means to earn their livelihood, even if it means through crime or worse still resort to substance abuse or vice. This for sure will impact the society in a big way. It is up to us to make sure that the impact is a positive one.
SUSRIS: The United States needed to "come clean" too, in your call for solutions. You talked about the "thorniest issues" -- the regional security problems, as well as environmental, human rights and the question of visas -- facilitating people-to-people relations. The last year has seen setbacks and progress in all of these. How would you grade developments in the areas you asked Americans to address?
Khashoggi: Everyone acknowledges there is a real threat from violent extremists and that threat exists whether you are in New York City, Madrid, London, Beirut, Baghdad or Riyadh or anywhere else. However, I cannot accept world leaders advancing their own agendas under the banner of the �war on terrorism� at any cost. One country cannot bomb another country to smithereens just because you want to kill a few terrorists.
Have you looked at the statistics coming out of Iraq? There are American casualties to be sure, but there are 10 or 20 times those numbers of casualties among Iraqis many of whom are innocent men and women and children. The whole security infrastructure of Iraq was totally demolished and rendered ineffective, so I cannot see how the United States expects to win the peace. Winning the war is easy, but it
is a heavy price to pay both in human and physical capital.
Now we hear of an imminent threat to invade and bomb Iran. No thanks; we would rather deal with the Iranians through our own diplomatic and civil means and channels. You have not won in Iraq or in Afghanistan. What makes you think you can win in Syria or Iran?
As for improvements in the thorniest issues I mentioned above, we are not making much progress as far as speedy visas for businessmen and businesswomen as well as students. There is only the
U.S. Embassy in Riyadh processing visas and they are overwhelmed because they are understaffed. The Consulates in Jeddah and Dammam are not allowed to handle visas. People � some of them old and sick � have to pay for travel to Riyadh and stay in hotels at great expense to have the required interviews before the visas are issued. And even then the visas are not guaranteed. Some are being refused for the most minor of reasons.
Visa decisions are still made in the United States and sometimes those can take months. By that time a student accepted to an American college has missed the start of studies deadline and has no choice but to go to another country, to which visas are issued usually within two � three weeks at most. Visas to the UK do not take more than 3 days.
Remember that students who go to America � and people of my generation were such students �
becoming your unofficial ambassadors and will
praising your country and the American people, as we
still do today. And we do understand and make the distinction between the American people, the Congress and the
Administration in America. In my experience, once an American, no matter what is his or her background learns the facts about my country, race and religion, they quickly become friendlier, more understanding and even
act warmly. And vice versa, I have seen how Americans
visiting Saudi Arabia and meeting the people
reversing their position or at least showing more
understanding. So people-to-people is truly a wonderful way to bridging our two countries� relationship.
I was particularly impressed recently by two major overtures. First, the Congress passed a resolution recognizing officially the Eid Al-Fitr, marking
and celebrating the end of our fasting the holy month of Ramadan and celebrating the break of the fast. Secondly, the decision
by New York City to light up the Empire State Building in green
marking the three days of the Eid, as is done for Christmas and Hanukah.
Equally impressive is a letter written by 138 Muslim scholars - including grand muftis from most of the world's Islamic nations addressed to Christian leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, every Orthodox patriarch, many other Eastern prelates and the heads of the Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and other Christian churches. The �open letter� highlighted in a striking and stark way the increasing breakdown between the two largest monotheistic faiths and appealed for a sort of strategic dialogue. An inter-faith dialogue is important and we need to have it among all religions of the world.
Such a rapprochement, such a dialogue, is what we need between our two nations. If you create awareness, then you create understanding. Through understanding you create respect of the differences between us and you build on our many, many common values. This is the process of making peace. On the other hand, misconception creates distrust, which creates hate and animosity, which always leads to disagreements and fighting. This is the process of making war. I would choose the path of peaceful human coexistence every time.
SUSRIS: Last year you said that economic interests shouldn't be the sole basis of the relationship. However, we have witnessed a broad opening of trade and investment programs with China and other partners in East and South Asia. Do these come at the expense of US-Saudi business relations and are they the result of the post-9/11 "cooling" of bilateral ties or more simply the practical reality of global economics?
Khashoggi: Well, you have heard of the wise adage, �Don't put all your eggs in one basket.� I think there is an element of that in the shift of business, as well as global economic factors impacting decisions by business leaders in selecting countries like China and India. You only need to look at the growth of trade and business � including investments � between the United States and China and India. We are no different.
There is another element, and that is the practicality of travel to the United States to meet with our American business partners. Not getting the visas easily or having to go through a lot of trouble to get them, made some Saudi businesses seek their trade from elsewhere. Still, we are closely linked to the United States. Our local currency, the Riyal, is pegged to the Dollar, in spite of inflationary pressures and the drop of the price of the dollar against major currencies, especially the Euro and the Sterling Pound. We still have large amounts of our reserves invested in the United States, as does China, by the way. Our trade between our two countries is still substantial and growing, albeit not at an accelerated pace.
SUSRIS: Some circles in the American media, you said, prefer to focus on the negative aspects of developments in the Kingdom and in the Saudi-US relationship. What would you like Americans to understand about Saudi Arabia that they don't learn by reading and listening to the mainstream US media?
Khashoggi: I believe there is still a lot to do to convince media on both sides to report objectively and not to be incendiary in their language or in showing inflammatory pictures appearing in print or aired on broadcast media. I think we need a strong exchange program for journalists -- maybe even building joint journalism schools in Saudi Arabia. The reporting of the truth is so important.
The Internet has also changed the dissemination of news and views a great deal � enabling people to be better informed than ever. Today, you can access almost any publication, radio or TV station, or other media from anywhere on the world. The power of the media is being acquired by the people for the people. For example, anyone can post on YouTube or post on any blog bits of information. It is left to the people accessing such information to evaluate it.
So, I suggest your people and mine go and search for reports in a variety of media outlets. Many of the foreign language media also provide English versions. I always read the local papers of any city I visit because I want to learn the local politics. I want to understand the different pressures facing the host society, including the people�s aspirations, fears and everyday struggles and achievements.
I recommend to your American readers that if they really want to learn about Saudi Arabia, come and visit the place. We will welcome you with open arms and you will see for yourself that we are actually a peace-loving nation. We may be more conservative than most nations, but we are not that much different when it comes to good family values.
SUSRIS: Lastly, you said it was necessary for all sectors of both American and Saudi societies to cooperate � academia, media, government, religious and business communities, and the public at large. Can you talk about cases where these sectors have done well to rebuild the historic connections and where they may have fallen short?
Khashoggi: As I said earlier, there has been some success and I alluded to cooperation in the religious and educational fields. There has been some in the business community because of old established relations and some new ones that have developed, but certainly not enough. There is more cooperation for sure between our two governments, especially in concerns about security. We need more cooperation between the media and definitely we need more people-to-people dialogues.
SUSRIS: We agree that accurate and clear information is the best remedy to misunderstanding. Thank you again, Mr. Khashoggi, for your insights and your work on repaving the bridges between Saudi Arabians and Americans.
Khashoggi: Thank you again for the opportunity to address your questions.
I want to close by saying that we are two nations that have been strong allies for the past 60-plus years. A group of crazy misfits carried out a heinous crime for which both of our nations continue to pay, even after five years since it happened. It is time for the wounds to heal.
We are reaching out to people in the United States � academia, media, government, religious, business communities, and the public at large � and we have made it known that it is our intention to interact with the world on the basis of equality, fairness, transparency, mutual respect, friendship and cooperation against not only terrorism but against poverty, ignorance, racism, abuse, ethnic cleansing, crime, diseases, environmental pollution, and all other ills facing our world.
EDITOR�S NOTE:
Mr. Khashoggi indicated his interest in hearing back from readers of this interview, as he heard back on his original �Open Letter.� SUSRIS will forward responses sent to < [email protected] > to him.
This interview was conducted by an exchange of emails, which concluded on October 23 2007.
Mr. Amr Khashoggi is CEO of the Amkest Group, a holding company with interests in building materials manufacturing and services, food packaging, hygienic and medical products, and land transportation. He also serves as Vice-Chairman of Modern Computers & Communication, a provider of e-business services, consulting, and training, and is President of the Khashoggi Foundation, a family-based philanthropic organization.
Mr. Khashoggi is a former CEO of DITevents and a former CEO of Tanmiah Commercial Group, both of which provide event management of major conferences. He is also a former Managing Director of Triad Holding Corporation.
Mr. Khashoggi is a member of the Saudi Committee for the Development of International Trade (CIT) in the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry. He is a former Chief Advisor to the CIT and Chief Coordinator of its Outreach Program. In addition, he is a Board Member of the Jeddah Marketing Board, a Member of the Committee of International Relations, and a Member of the Information Technology Committee of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Mr. Khashoggi holds a B.Sc. from Menlo College and an M.B.A. from Yale University School of Management.
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