Written by: Mohammad Al-Issa
CEO
Alissa3m@gmail.com
Five years have passed since the launching of Saudi Vision 2030 as part of the plan which aims to improve the Kingdom and transmit endless development in its streets and buildings. In fact and after a short period of time, we noticed that change which reached all what is tangible and sensory. In addition, this variation reflected positively on our souls increasing our love for the two individuals who were credited with that, and these two persons are the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, may God prolong his life and provide him with more health and wellness, and His Highness Prince Muhammad bin Salman, may God protect him.

Everyone who tried to compare the Kingdom five years ago to today has found a huge difference in most of the life, social and economic aspects. In addition, tens of celebrities praised the efforts made in an expanded poll marking the fifth-year anniversary of the Kingdom's 2030 vision, in which religious and artistic personalities and high and important figures in society participated.
On this occasion which was emerged by our mother government, our spiritual father, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, appeared in an interview that we had waited for days. The discussed steps and projects were a pivotal point in transforming the Kingdom into a state whose main concern was to reduce the burden on oil revenues, which were gradually affected after the increase in the population that exceeded twenty million people. Thus, it was imperative to find solutions that serve the interest of the homeland in order to avoid any future problems in the oil situation in terms of its low price or low demand for it, especially in the case of Saudi Arabia which mainly depends on it.

After this crucial decision, the officials began to search for alternatives and supports for this sector, and found in the tourism, services, education, investments and logistics sectors the hope that could rescue the oil sector in case of its deterioration in the long run. Therefore, the readiness for this possibility would be complete while the officials and the concerned authorities anticipated all the surrounding risks, and thus the Kingdom is not affected by fluctuations.
His Highness also stated that after they had begun implementing the Kingdom's Vision 2030 during the past five years, they faced several challenges which were manifested in the fact that most of the problems date back to more than tens of years and require more effort than planned. One example is the housing institution problem that makes the citizen wait for nearly 15 years to obtain a loan from it, and that is due to several problems related to coordination with the responsible authorities such as municipalities, the central bank and finance... However, this vision with those hands that watch over its implementation managed to increase housing from 47% to 60% within 4 years only.

Moreover, the unemployment rate decreased from 14% to 11% after starting the implementation of the vision. Add to that the increase in the percentage of non-oil revenues to 350 billion Saudi riyals after it was 166 billion riyals, and it is considered a significant percentage which is more than the double.

The Kingdom has introduced electronic transactions within most of the life matters that take a long time for the citizen to complete. These transactions include the commercial registry transactions that now take half an hour to fulfil. Before, these transactions used to take days and hours and many official departments in order to finish them.

Saudi Arabia was a safe haven for foreign investments even before the 2030 vision, so how about it after the 2030 vision!! In fact, it became one of the most powerful countries in the world that attract investments, as it doubled 3 times more. In addition, its contributions recorded 17 billion riyals annually after it had been recording 5 billion riyals per year.

Mohammed bin Salman stressed the importance of exploiting the available sectors and opportunities that would support the economy of the green kingdom in light of the floundering of oil expectations until 2030 where the global oil analysts are divided into two parts. The first part expects the growth of oil demand until 2030 or until 2040, but the other group expects a gradual decline in oil demand until 2070.
The promising part about oil is that in the next five years, supply will decrease in the great countries such as the United States, China and Russia. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia will increase its production under certain conditions. This will constitute fantastic profits for the Kingdom along with all those sectors supporting the economy.
He added that this sector does not only depend on crude oil, but also on the manufacturing industries of oil materials and derivatives up to 100 thousand barrels. Moreover, efforts seek to participate with Aramco in converting approximately 3 million barrels to various manufacturing industries in 2030, where the returns per one barrel of them reach double the returns from one barrel of crude oil.
Then His Highness concluded on the topic of Aramco that there are many proposals in the company. The most prominent proposal is the deal that provides for the acquisition of 1% by the largest energy companies in the world. Add to that several scattered proposals concerning Aramco and the investment in it.

The character of the prince which is rooted in the vast culture made us feel that we are listening to a world of scholars of antiquity on whose hands civilization arose. That era is not much different from the renaissance that took place during the reign of the Crown Prince, His Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as if he was the one who drew all the vision with his hands without help. In fact, he was fully informed about its data and went into the details of each idea until he reached its core, so he was transparent in his discussion about the various topics in their dimensions and results. He also gave us the satisfying answers to every question that had been asked to him. He even mentioned some of the local and international issues that he was not asked about. Rather, he found it his duty to delve into some of their details in order to be clear with his loyal people, who were among the most important elements founding the success of Vision 2030, with their concerted efforts and good intentions.

All those who delved into the dimensions of this interview found that most what was mentioned were the numbers and the ratios noticeably, and this indicates that the speech which is based on the digital studies and the scientific researches always constitutes a source of people's trust because it is free from any literary falsifications and attempts to win over the masses. We are one part of the people who re-watched this interview more than four times, and each time was a contribution to mature the mind and open the eyes to topics whose details were vague to us on the day before that fruitful meeting.

The Saudi journalist Abdullah Al-Mudayfer conveyed to us the image of the sober person who loves great statures, which constituted a milestone in governance, as he showed the followers the importance of dialogue accompanying listening and constructive discussion. He is considered one of the most important young interlocutors, and the interlocutor of the great prince must be educated, self-confident, and ready for any surprising topic that he might be obliged to present without prior preparation. In fact, all of these characteristics were clear through a few questions that he had asked without causing any interruption to the ideas of His Highness or interfering during his speech, because he is an intelligent person who knows when to speak and when to be silent.