Saudi Arabia's Economy and Planning Minister Faisal Alibrahim discusses the 'power of diversification' as the country signs an economic agreement with the U.S. on 'Special Report.' #world #economy #trump #investment #trade #tariffs #foxnews #us #news #saudiarabia #deal #leadership #friendship #politics #middleeast
00:00What do you see 10, 20, 30 years for Saudi Arabia?
00:14I will give you an example.
00:15If you look to the late 70s, Saudi Arabia's GDP is bigger than South Korea.
00:21And now South Korea, I think it's the 10th or 11th largest GDP in the world.
00:27So we believe if Saudi Arabia is really at the perfect track since that time,
00:33we will be among the top seven GDP globally.
00:36I'm trying to get Saudi Arabia back on the right track.
00:38And that was the Crown Prince.
00:40Joining us now, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Minister Faisal al-Ibrahim.
00:46Mr. Minister, thanks for being here.
00:48You know, this trip is about getting Saudi on the right track.
00:52You are doing these big deals with the U.S.
00:55The President characterizes it as $1 trillion worth of investment.
01:00How do you all see it here?
01:03So, as you know, Brett, and it's a great pleasure, of course, to be here with you again.
01:07As you know, the Kingdom's, you know, embarked upon a journey to unlock its potential with Vision 2030.
01:14So many elements helped the Kingdom become prominent in terms of economic power.
01:19Mainly that has been coming from oil.
01:22But today it is a story about the power of diversification.
01:26New sectors that are related to tourism, culture, entertainment, and sports has resulted in a lot of growth and economic drivers and growth engines that didn't exist before.
01:36Everything from AI to technology to investments, accessing the great capital markets of the U.S.
01:43and the great opportunities in the U.S.
01:45To much more.
01:46We would love to be competitive in a large and vibrant market, a consumer market such as that in the U.S.
01:52For people who haven't been here, this place has evolved dramatically.
01:56I mean, just in the three years since I've been here, the last time, the percentage of GDP, non-oil percentage, has surpassed 50%.
02:05Absolutely.
02:07That's significant.
02:08For the first time.
02:09For an oil country, that's a big deal.
02:11Yes.
02:11And, of course, we're not over-celebrating that.
02:14But we're acknowledging this as a milestone.
02:16What we want to see is more non-oil exports growing.
02:20More non-oil exports as a percentage of our manufacturing GDP.
02:24We want to see user experience in the services side, especially on the tourism side, second to none.
02:31We still have a lot of work to do.
02:32So when I talked to you back on my last trip, here's what you said.
02:36Vision 2030 is about unlocking potential.
02:38It's designed to address our long-term economic challenges and risks through three things.
02:44Diversifying the economy, empowering the youth of the kingdom, and building institutions that can help carry this beyond 2030.
02:52This is only an asset that we need to leverage, and it's about connecting energy, connecting data, connecting goods and services, connecting people, all for the betterment of the world at large.
03:04To that goal, how important was this trip?
03:07Today we saw from both speeches, from Israel, Highness Grand Prince Mohammed Salman, and from President Donald Trump, that there's a lot of common values or a lot of common approaches to addressing global challenges.
03:21We heard both leaders talk about peace and prosperity.
03:25We heard both leaders talk about dialogue, and we've seen what dialogue has led to in terms of the U.S. and U.K. deal, U.S. and China deal,
03:34and what the Saudi has led also through dialogue in the region to bring more stability.
03:39We're talking about prosperity, about investment, about the growth of the private sector, growth of competition and innovation.
03:45There was some news out of that speech from President Trump, a number of pieces, but one of the big ones was that the Syrian president will be here tomorrow
03:53because President Trump announced that sanctions against Syria were going to be pulled.
03:59It seems like there is, and I saw the Crown Prince applauding loudly, so he's definitely for that.
04:07It seems like there is going to be an effort to bring Syria into the fold.
04:11Is that what you see?
04:13What we see is the need in a country such as Syria for institutional capabilities to do the right thing.
04:21Institutional capabilities can be created through, you know, they have a challenge with the institutions there.
04:27The kingdom has stepped in and other countries in the region to support Syria financially to go into some of the multilateral platforms.
04:34But something as strong and meaningful and material as lifting sanctions could help a country such as Syria to invest more capital
04:44in building the institutions they need to be a more stable country, but also bring more stability to the region and be a force for good.
04:54You've been around these two leaders. They seem to have a great relationship.
04:58From what I see is that there is a very strong partnership, and I feel that the friendship is strong, and it's built on mutual respect.
05:10They come from different generations. He's 39, he's 78, but they seem to get along.
05:16The Crown Prince, from my interaction with him last time, is nonstop.
05:20It's like a beehive of action, for you ministers especially.
05:24I see common values between both leaders, regardless of age and background,
05:29and I think that's one of the things that really brings this mutual respect into the public eye.
05:36If you were to look into the crystal ball and see where Saudi Arabia is, you know, 5, 10, 20 years, what does it look like?
05:46Right now there's a lot of cranes on the horizon, as we notice.
05:49So we want more sources of growth, and we want more channels for that flow to come into the economy.
05:57We want a private sector that's dynamic.
06:00You know, we're a young population, but in about 20, 25, 30 years, we'll start the aging process.
06:05What we should look like at that stage is a government and a private sector and a third sector and academia
06:11that is leveraging fully generative AI and other technological tools towards productivity,
06:17but also that has created jobs for a lot of Saudis and has been able to, in the process,
06:23attract a lot of talent to come to Saudi to make Saudi Arabia their home.
06:28Last thing, I've done a lot of stories about the evolution.
06:32What do you tell somebody who may still be skeptical about the kingdom?
06:37Saudi Arabia is a long-term, reliable partner.
06:43If you ask anyone who has dealt with the kingdom, government, people, anyone who's visited here,
06:48you've visited here a few times already, you can feel that.
06:52You can see that this is a society that is strong, led by His Majesty, King Salman,
07:03His Royal Highness Crown Prince, Mohammed Salman.
07:04Saudi Arabia has always been and always will be a force for good, for innovation.
07:11And it's growing fast.
07:14Absolutely.
07:16Mr. Minister, thanks for the time.
07:17Thank you very much, Brett. Appreciate it.
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