Item of Interest - Saturday, March 19, 2005

Rt. Hon Jack Straw, MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, United Kingdom

I. Opening Remarks

Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. It is my very great pleasure indeed to welcome this morning His Royal Highness Prince Saud, the Saudi Foreign Minister and His Royal Highness Prince Turki, the Saudi ambassador to the UK, and also to welcome everybody here for this very important conference, which has been jointly organized by the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and by Her Majesty's Government. It has been long awaited; for reasons to do with other events internationally, it had to be twice postponed. However, I am very glad indeed that it is now taking place.

II. The Status of Saudi Arabia

1. Economic Importance

I am delighted that we have had this opportunity today to discuss how we can strengthen the partnership between the UK and Saudi Arabia and meet together the challenges of a changing world. The UK relationship with Saudi Arabia is one which the Prime Minister, the whole Government and I very greatly value. Saudi Arabia is at the political and economic heart of the Middle East; a region that is central to the UK's interests and to those of almost every other country in the international community. With 25% of the world's reserves of oil, Saudi Arabia has a pivotal role in the world energy market, which is of such obvious and crucial importance for global growth and prosperity. Indeed, without Saudi Arabia's stabilizing influence over the last quarter of the century and more, the world economy would have had a far rougher ride.

2. As the home of Islam's two holiest sites, Saudi Arabia has enormous significance for the world's Muslims, including the two million of our people whom are Muslims living in Britain. I may say that 25, 000 British Muslims live in my own parliamentary constituency of Blackburn. I am very proud that the UK was the first mainly Christian country to send an annual, official Government-backed delegation to the holy places assisting British pilgrims undertaking Hajj. I say, your Royal Highness that we are very grateful indeed for all the cooperation that our Hajj delegation receives from your Government. Some 20,000 British citizens live in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the UK's largest export market in the region and we are the fourth largest investor there. We enjoy a very close political dialogue. I myself had the pleasure of visiting Saudi Arabia twice last year, in March and again in October.

3. Perhaps most importantly of all, both our countries are determined to support the cause of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I know and understand how crucial this is for everyone in the region, as indeed it is for the whole of the international community. Quite apart from the human tragedy of this conflict, stagnation in the Middle East peace process has weakened people's faith in politics and in the power of solutions achieved by dialogue. In that way, the conflict is too often acted as a source of radicalization and as a block on positive change in the Middle East as a whole. Today there is a hope that both sides can make progress towards peace. We have to offer all the support we can as the parties involved pursue that progress.

Next week, Prime Minister Tony Blair and I will be holding an international meeting here in London. Its aim is to help the Palestinians to build the institutions they need to create in terms of a future Palestinian state. Your Royal Highness, I am really delighted that you will be attending this important London meeting along with members of the quartet - the US, UN, EU and Russia - and with representatives from other nations and the World Bank. The meeting will be an important chance for us to mobilize greater practical support for the Palestinians as they move towards the goal of a state of their own, a state of Palestine, for which they have striven for so long.

III. Facing a Changing World Together

1. Developing Democracy and Tolerance

Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen, alongside these international issues, both our kingdoms face a wider need, which forms the main subject of our discussions today; this is, to pursue a process of managed change, modernization and reform so as to adapt to a rapidly changing world. Britain is today a democratic constitutional monarchy. However, those arrangements and the place of religion in British society have evolved over centuries of passionate debate and, sometimes, of violent conflict. Some of our own democratic foundations, such as votes for women, are relatively recent. However, thanks to all these developments, we have today in this country a framework of laws and
freedoms, which allows people of every religion to celebrate their faith, including our two million Muslims. This helps people of every background to fulfill their potential and to contribute their diverse talents and experience for the benefit of society as a whole.

2. Changes in Industry

The process of change is a constant one, with no end point. My own constituency of Blackburn was once the industrial heart of the British cotton industry. Therefore, it has had to undergo a painful, but ultimately successful transformation the effects of which are still present today. So too have many towns across Britain, which relied on industries such as coal mining or steel manufacture and, as the world changes further in the future, they will need to transform themselves again.

3. Change and Saudi Arabia

a. Modernization to preserve societal values

Though Britain and Saudi Arabia are very different countries, the challenge of change is one which we all share. Saudi Arabia's transformation over the last 100 years has been simply astounding. A country once considered a relative backwater has become a cornerstone of the global economy. Economic growth and development has transformed life for millions of its citizens. However, as Saudi Arabia's own rulers have recognized, no nation can stand still. The challenge for Saudi Arabia, as for Britain and other nations, is to adapt to this changing world reality, whilst preserving all that is good and admirable
in its society. Let me put it this way; the challenge is to adapt so as to preserve those strong traditions and values because, without reform, frustrated aspirations for change may fuel resentment and strengthen those forces who wish to destroy all that the society holds dear.

Therefore, modernization and reform are not roads to a society of godless consumerism. As Saudi Arabia has recognized, if properly managed, reform and modernization will preserve what Saudis and others most cherish in their society; the values of respect for the family, others and religion, of social responsibility and good order; of a powerful morality based on the great and noble faith of Islam.

b. The need for European humility

Let us be clear about this: no one from outside can or should tell another nation how best to pursue such a process of change and development. When we in Europe speak of the need for reform elsewhere, we must be sure that we do so with a good deal of humility. We cannot forget that the democracy and prosperity which our own continent enjoys are, after all, in many of its nations, a very recent phenomena. They are so recent that when I was a young man and a student, none of the recent eight eastern members of the EU could be described as democracies. They were under the Soviet yoke. Three of the southern members of the EU - Greece, Spain and Portugal - were all dictatorships of one
kind or anther. If you go back a few more decades, you see a situation where only a handful of the current 25 members of the EU were democracies or had had much experience of democracy throughout their history. Hence, I say this to those of us who come from Europe, that we have to recognize our own history. Even in the UK, although as I said earlier, we are very proud of our constitutional monarchy, those of us who are familiar with our own history know that the road to that constitutionally monarchy has been one of great argument and, sometimes of considerable violence.

4. Assisting Change in Saudi Arabia

Hence, we cannot come with a model to impose. However, we do know that the common desire of all people is for security, prosperity and for a say in the decisions that affect their lives. We know that reform in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world is in our interests too, and those of the whole international community. Therefore, we would like to work in partnership with Saudi Arabia and the other countries of the region to support the processes of change, which they themselves are shaping towards the goals that they themselves have set. I suggest that our two kingdoms' longstanding and close friendship gives us a strong basis on which to do so.

Hence, the UK is working in partnership with Saudi Arabia to share our experience in such fields as vocational and technical training for judges journalists and businesswomen.  We have organized seminars to inform the business community about the impact of accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). We are strengthening our cooperation on counter-terrorism and on defense. Your Royal Highness, I greatly welcome the municipal elections, which were held in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago, as an important step in the growing involvement of the people in political decision-making. I look forward to the development of this process. I particularly welcome the Government of
Saudi Arabia's commitment to extend the process to women.

Our relationship also recognized the importance of young people in promoting dialogue and understanding, with our 50 youth exchanges between us every year. Our partnership in multi-lateral forums compliments our bi-lateral work. The UK is a driving force behind the EU's growing relationship with Saudi Arabia and its neighbors through the negotiations for a free trade agreement with the Gulf countries and the EU's work for a strategic partnership with the Middle East and North Africa. As presidency of th G8 this year, we are working with the countries of the region in a process that they are leading, with a particular focus on education, assistance for democracy and improving the environment for investment. The UK and Saudi Arabia are also working together with the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) new initiative designed to improve the conditions for investment in the Middle East and North Africa. We are jointly chairing a working group focused on economic diversification. NATO, through the Istanbul cooperation initiative, has made clear its willingness to develop practical systems for Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors in those areas in which they choose to engage, and at a rhythm and pace that they set.

All of this represents a strong partnership for change, modernization and reform, and one which we have both resolved to develop even further in our discussion today. Your Royal Highnesses, ladies and gentlemen, I began by stressing the importance of the friendship between Saudi Arabia and the UK. It is characteristic of friendship that we work together not just in easy times, but in tough times as well. We know that managing change requires courage and leadership, but we know too that it is vitally important to preserving and strengthening the values of justice, security and prosperity, which we share both in
our own societies and in the wider world. Hence, ours is a relationship of deep and broad engagement. For its part, the UK will do all that we can to strengthen that engagement so as to accompany the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with support, solidarity and understanding as it shapes its future. Let me wish this conference and all who are here, every success.