Remarks by His Royal Highness before the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta, Georgia, Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  Thank you, Mr. Mayor.  Thank you.  This is quite a privilege, not just on receiving the award but also on seeing so many of you come and join in this lunch.  I�m really moved by this.  And my friend Wyche Fowler did not tell you that as well as being ambassador to Saudi Arabia, he is probably the last person who went exploring in the desert of Saudi Arabia on a camel.  (Laughter.)  And he caused quite a stir because when he was out in the desert without telephone, without any means of communication, then Crown Prince Abdullah, now King Abdullah, was looking for him and nobody knew where he was � not his embassy, not his CIA station chief.  Nobody knew where he was.  But after a couple of days of searching they found him and then � I won�t say how they brought him back � (laughter) � but they brought him back in quite a hurry.

And, really, this is a privilege and I am very pleased to be here to talk to you today.  First of all, let me thank Mr. Israel and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce for inviting me here.  And I understand that the big news here is that Atlanta is in the final round for becoming the home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  (Laughter.)  Now, I can understand the appeal of fast cars in this city, given the amount of traffic that you have.  (Laughter.)  I want to be sure, though, to provide you with enough time for questions, so I�ll keep my remarks short.

Saudi Arabia and the United States have a long history of cooperation together.  Certainly we�ve gone through ups and downs.  We�ve gone through difficult periods and easy periods, and I think it will continue to be this way.  But this is the nature of any relationship, whether between friends or between countries.  Ultimately we always return to seeing the real reason why we stick it out with one another, and quite simply, we work well together.

For more than 60 years we�ve had a mutually beneficial relationship, and I can say � and I think proudly say � that it is a relationship not just of oil for security but, more broadly speaking, a relationship of people to people.  I for one first came to the United States when I was 14 years old to attend high school here.  After that I attended college.  And I visited Atlanta before at the invitation of Saudi Air Force personnel who were being trained at Lockheed on the C-130 aircraft.  The year was 1965.  You didn�t have much of a traffic problem then.  (Laughter.)  But Atlanta has certainly grown since then and I have had a great deal of exposure to the U.S. and the American way of life.  And this is not unique to me.  As Ambassador Fowler mentioned, literally hundreds of thousands of Saudis have traveled to the United States seeking education or healthcare, to conduct business or simply to visit. 

The friendships and partnerships that have formed since well before our governments had official relations are lasting because, at the bottom of it, Saudis and Americans are very similar to each other.  We�re plainspoken and straightforward and we both believe in the importance of faith and family.  We want the same things for us and for our children that you do: security, opportunity, good health and education, and a bright future.  We know that this can be a challenging proposition, so in Saudi Arabia we have been diligently working for years now to modernize and to confront head-on the problems that exist within our society. 

If you look at the Kingdom today, it is a country that is moving forward at great speed economically and socially, and even politically despite what some might say.  We have over $650 billion worth of investment opportunities in the Kingdom over the next 15 years, and American business should take advantage of that.  In December we officially joined the World Trade Organization.  This is providing us with great opportunities to increase foreign investment and diversify our economy so it will be not so reliant on oil.  We have undertaken a strategic multi-year program to improve the level of education in the Kingdom to be competitive internationally, and this program is emphasizing critical thinking and math and science, which are important to success in the global economy.

Our municipal councils have now all officially formed and have begun to meet.  Members of these councils were elected to office last spring.  This is an important step as the Saudi people learn how the electoral process works, and we will continue to expand citizen participation.

These developments, which are only a few of many, are not just for the Saudi people.  We live in a global community, so if we are to benefit ourselves, we are benefiting those in the world with whom we interact.  And we interact with the U.S. in particular a great deal.  This is why it is so important that we continue to redefine our relationship as it evolves, which is what we have been doing all along.  As ambassador to your great country, I am privileged to contribute to developing this relationship. 

As I was preparing to leave for my new assignment, I asked King Abdullah, Your Majesty, how should I deal with President Bush and the American people?  He turned to me without batting an eye and he said, just be frank with them � (audio break, tape change) -- with your secretary of State with a couple of my credentials last September.  I told her the story of Winston Churchill being a guest at the White House during the war years when President Roosevelt wanted to honor him by putting him up in the White House instead of Blair House. 

One night Mr. Roosevelt wheeled into Mr. Churchill�s room and found him stark naked.  (Laughter.)  Embarrassed, he tried to wheel back out but Churchill turned to him and he said, �Mr. President, the prime minister of England has nothing to hide from the president of the United States.�  (Laughter.)  And I did assure the secretary of State that I was not going to come to her naked � (laughter) � on any occasion, but that that is the kind of relationship Saudi Arabia would like to have with the United States.

And so with those remarks I would be happy to take any questions, thank you.

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