U.S.-Saudi Arabia - Abdullah Alireza - Conference

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ITEM OF INTEREST
May 8, 2009

U.S.-Saudi Relations in a World Without Equilibrium
Conference Transcripts -- Session 1
Abdullah Alireza

Editor's Note:

Last week a major forum addressing the state of and prospects for the relationship between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was convened in Washington by the New America Foundation (NAF) and the Committee for International Trade (CIT) of the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Distinguished speakers spent the day providing perspectives and insights on what the relationship should look like, how economics was shaping the national security picture vis a vis the relationship, the challenges for America in the region and how the perspective on these challenges look from the Saudi Arabian point of view.

Today we are pleased to provide the transcripts from the first session, "A Forward Projection of What the Saudi-U.S. Relationship Should Look Like and Needs to Achieve." Among the featured speakers was H.E. Abdullah Alireza, Minister of Commerce and Industry of Saudi Arabia.

Separate emails will provide each panelist's remarks and the question and answer period transcript. Transcripts for the remaining panels and luncheon remarks will be provided over the next few days. You can find all of the conference materials and related links at a new SUSRIS Special Section. [ "U.S.-Saudi Relations in a World Without Equilibrium" - Conference Special Section ]

Video MP3

U.S.-Saudi Relations in a World Without Equilibrium
Conference Transcripts -- Session 1
His Excellency Abdullah Alireza
Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

[Minister Abdullah Alireza] I am faced with a dichotomous situation. It is never that easy to be the last speaker after such a distinguished panel, but it makes life easier because everything that you need to say has already been said. So, I am approaching this from a different angle, but before I do, I really would like to thank my friend, Steve, for the effort that he has put in coming up with this conference.

When I threw the gauntlet at him couple of years ago, he thought about it, but then he thought about it in a sense that it was really opportune for the Saudi-U.S. relationship to be able to be exposed after such a long hibernation for the last eight years. To be able to do that, that took a great deal of risk. But I am happy that the New America Foundation, a very prestigious think tank, has partnered with the Saudi CIT. To have partnership and collaboration between these two augurs well for the relationship. And I would like to thank you again, Steve.

I am approaching this from a different angle as I said. It is my fervent hope that today's discussion will help to lay the cornerstone for a new value-added relationship between our two countries. Without a doubt we have been told, and I will repeat, that the U.S. Saudi partnership is solid, withstanding the trials and the tribulations of the recent past. But U.S.-Saudi relations must be built on shared value, mutual respect and the commitment to collaborate in developing new value-added elements of our relationship.

Together, we can strongly focus on building intellectual capital, a knowledge-based economy, educational reform, promoting and encouraging deeper institutional collaboration in order to reinvigorate our mutual interest. The values voiced by President Obama are warmly welcomed in Saudi Arabia as a serious glimmer of hope. We need to be sanguine, however, at a time when pessimism is pervasive in the region. We need to work together to reverse past failures.

However, we are now entering a new epoch. A new era and be paced by two visionary leaders, President Obama and King Abdullah. Remarkably, both leaders share a common path. In their own way, they have embarked on a campaign forward to achieving greater harmony in the global arena. President Obama's message of renewal and collaboration with the Arab and Muslim world, and especially Saudi Arabia, has positively left an imprint in Saudi Arabia.

King Abdullah's initiative of the Arab peace plan as well as the initiation of the interfaith dialogue, both in Spain and in the United Nations, represents the Kingdom's valued proposition to the world of nations. King Abdullah has also pursued reconciliation within the Arab world and has established himself as a respected champion on humanitarian and just causes.

We simply cannot afford to waste the opportunity to have our two nations benefit from greater interaction. King Abdullah and President Obama speak the same language and understand that through dialogue and persuasion, peace and stability can be achieved. Our shared history and mutual interests have brought our nations together into partnerships. Both our nations have a deep respect for values. We both seek stability in the Middle East without which, and as we have been told today by all the distinguished panelists, we cannot make any progress in the region either at the political or the economic level.

We both have fought against the spread of terrorism based on the shared values we hold regarding peace and stability. All aspects of our partnership play an important role where as your former Secretary of Commerce, Mickey Kantor said, "Strategic considerations have made us allies, but the ties of trade have brought us truly together."

Indeed, Saudi Arabia is America's biggest trading partner in the Middle East and America is our largest trading partner both in terms of imports and exports.

Last year our bilateral trade volume exceeded $68 billion compared to $160 million in 1970. But at the same time we live in a very challenging and turbulent world as a result of the impact of the financial crisis. Much needs to be done as much has been damaged. We cannot succumb to the temptation of beggar thy neighbor policies which are anathema to global trade. Protectionism will threaten the prospects for recovery and prolong the global downturn. All too long, we lived in a world that prized short term gains based on greed, avarice and irresponsibility without considering the long term consequences. We need to look at the global architecture that at its core is carrying and responsible.

When I talk about adding value to our relationship, first and foremost, we need to move beyond the current notion of region building through creative destruction to one in which soft power is wielded intelligently by integrating countries into the clubs of good citizenship at the global and the regional level.

Creative destruction as has been mentioned, must be replaced by creative restructuring and creative engagement. Both King Abdullah and President Obama are committed to this cause. Therefore, the challenge with the U.S.-Saudi relations is creating conditions for this type of collaboration within and across countries. All the speakers spoke about the need to be able to move in that direction. We must structure U.S.-Saudi relations in a way which allows for more broadly defined bilateral interests which also supports the institution of global and regional clubs of good citizenship.

Together, we need to explore ways of blending private and public capital, leveraging private and civil society networks and ingenuity organizational skills and access to markets to improve the lives of real people.

Elite-centric approached to foreign policy will no longer suffice. But there is not substitute for domestic institutions. Hence, U.S.-Saudi bilateral relations must be broadened to reflect new priorities -- mainly the creation of intellectual capital and knowledge sharing as the only real guarantee of equality of opportunity for citizens of our countries and stability for the rest of the Middle East.

The gain of this initiative would be to foster the creation of knowledge societies, to share information and research tools in education enhancement. Saudi financial capital and U.S. expertise in research and development could be combined in a way to address some of the most pressing scientific, social and economic challenges.

Saudi Arabia is moving away from simply being a gas station of the world toward a sophisticated laboratory of excellence, innovation and knowledge. We know that we have a long way to go. But we have embarked on that path. And we're not looking back.

Our economy is being transformed and the youth is our strength. Let me try to cut it off here because part of the problem I have with being the last speaker, I don't want to overstay my welcome. So I think if all of us get the general drift that we have to build a very strong foundation to this bilateral relationship, what happened in the last eight years wouldn't have happened in putting the U.S.-Saudi relationship into the closet.

So I thank you very much.

[Visit the SUSRIS Special Section "U.S.-Saudi Relations in a World Without Equilibrium" for the transcripts from this and other panels and additional resources.]

Session One Video

Courtesy New America Foundation

Video MP3

Speaker Biography:

His Excellency Abdullah Alireza
Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza was appointed Minister of Commerce and Industry in March 2008. Previously, he served as Minister of State without portfolio. He is a member of the Supreme Economic Council, the Board of Trustees of King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for the Gifted, and has been co-chairman of the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce since 1999. During the last twenty years, Minister Alireza has been chairman of businesses and organizations, including the Saudi Services & Operating Company, Saudi Energy Services Company Limited, Saudi Trade & Export Development Company, and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce (JCCI). Minister Alireza works closely with academic institutions and non-profit organizations around the world in promoting education and cross cultural understanding. Minister Alireza obtained his B.A. in Political Science from Whittier College in California, and performed graduate work at Washington, D.C.'s American University and Georgetown University.

AGENDA

Panel I: A Forward Projection of What the Saudi-U.S. Relationship Should Look Like and Needs to Achieve

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