H.E. Fahd bin Abdulmohsan Al-Rasheed, Advisor, General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Chair, Saudi Conventions and Exhibitions General Authority
In conversation with: Diane Brady, Fortune

Fortune Global Forum 2024: Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 - A Blueprint For Sustainability

Photograph by Rebecca Greenfield for Fortune

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H.E. Fahd bin Abdulmohsan Al-Rasheed, Advisor, General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Chair, Saudi Conventions and Exhibitions General Authority,Diane Brady, Fortune

Hello everyone. Um By the way, your excellency. Thank you for joining us. I have to point out we're both wearing black turtlenecks, which makes us the hippest people all day. So good for us for. Um listen, one of the things I want to start with Matt sort of alluded to it, but I can't think of a country that has transformed itself or a society or an industry with such speed and such scale. And we've gone from no cinema to being a hub for the film industry, post oil economy, more than doubling the participation of women in the workforce in just a few years. So I think of that movie, everything everywhere all at once. You know, can you give us some sense as to why this scale and the speed of change? Well, thank you so much. It's great to be here uh in the greatest city in the world after Riyadh. Sorry Riyadh is number one. No, it's been honestly uh something that I would have never imagined to be part of this vision 2030. And I don't know how much you know about vision. 2030 has been an incredible transformation for the country. It's social, economic, it's KP I driven. Um And it's been eight years. We're halfway. So it was launched in 2016. We have 1064 initiatives right now. So it is everything everywhere at once. Uh Well, we, we track it all, but most importantly, it's about the passion. So you got 30 million people who are part of this. This is mass participation, not just top down and we work seven days a week, 24 hours seven. So we're not taking the four week thing. No, and I can attest that. Well, I have recently been to Riyadh and I think it would be interesting to see a show of hands in the audience who has been to Saudi Arabia or Riyadh because I think so a number of people have been there and, and, and before we get into uh you talk about vision 2030 I want to also talk about before we get into what's next, what's happening right now. So we have conflict in the Middle East. How is that impacting the plans? Look, Saudi Arabia is a very large country. It's the 19th largest country in the world in terms of GDP and in terms of geographic size is the 13th. So there's a lot of challenges right now in the region. Uh But vision 2030 is about sustainability and fiscal policies that allow us to continue and again, leadership and passion of the whole country. So despite all of the challenges, um last year, we got 217 million tourists visiting the country. And that was the target for 2030. Um in terms of the number of multinational corporations that have moved the regional headquarters to Saudi, we've reached 540 most of them this year. Uh And so it's a business hub. Uh It's a regional hub for stability and in the area I work right now, which is the conventions and exhibitions. We have seen increases from last year, 17% increase in the number of events. So it's really been amazing to see the scale of growth and the speed of change that has been taking place and how it's been adopted across the board. Anything you'd want to say about this new administration that's coming in, you've worked obviously with both Biden and Trump in the past in terms of the implications just for the growth in the region. Look, I I the truth is the Kingdom and the United States of America have had this very long established relationships. Seven relation of 70 years or 80 years now. At the government to government level, we always work with all administrations at the business to business level. And in the human perspective, a lot of us have studied here, we understand the language, we understand a lot of the culture. So I think we'll be fine. A Lakers fan, by the way, I should mention we were talking about that in the other room. Um Let me, let me ask a little bit about the different areas of transformation. There's the urban transformation and there's always a lot of attention on neo, you know, with that 1.5 trillion, I think it's 33 times the land mass of New York City at the end. So talk about that urban transformation. But you've also been a pivot, you played a pivotal role in transforming Riyadh. So I think that's something that's often underappreciated. Talk a little bit about that. Well, ultimately, all of the social transformation, all of the economic cross sectoral transformation has to take, take shape spatially and that is where urban transformations take place. So the world needs, you know, 900 new cities over the next 50 years and 900 cities. Yes mega cities uh to to capture both the growth in the population, but more importantly, urbanization. So num is an example of that. So you build new city, how would you build it in the 21st century? But we have existing cities and the city of New York is an incredible city, has been able to transform itself over time and still be a global hub for business and wealth. And the city of Riyadh is also that right. We have um the 44th largest city economy in the world in Riyadh. We have 8.5 million people living in Riyadh and um we're investing again uh in a metro and public transport which will will be open uh soon, we're building a park that is, that's massive in the mid middle of the city. So we've learned a lot from our sister cities if you if you will around the world and uh we're implementing that all of that in the city. I think one of the things that that must be challenging is the social transformation. I mentioned the position of women earlier, we've seen this rapid increase of of labor force participation. I believe it's now 35% women can drive, you know, whereas they couldn't in the past, you know, in addition to you're the kind of the birthplace of Islam, there's obviously parts of the society there where this would be a huge change. How do you bring everybody along with you? The thing I think we did not understand in Saudi was that the the youth of the population and the dynamic that brings into to the country socially, like I said, 65% of the population is under 35 and they were on their phones, they were using their phones, they were global citizens. Um but they were engaging the world through this small machine that we we all now have in our pockets. What's amazing is not just women going from 17% participation to 35% they own now, 45% of uh business. So sme s they're entrepreneurs, they're driving um all of the, the change and they are part of it at boards at the senior level. CEO N minus one. And it's, it doesn't feel like it's new. That's what's mesmerizing. It, it feels like we were just segregating that, that they, that women, women have always worked. So the other day, the other day, I, I had a 200 global um uh business people come into the country. So I called one of my colleague and I said, you know, you have been through this transformation before. If you were successful, you're doing this and you're doing that. Can you tell us about your unique experience? She said, Fahad, this is not unique. All us women in Saudi Arabia were doing things. This was just segregation and that's where I learned the difference. Um And I, and I think it's very much true when you look at our approach to, for example, music, we held a very large electronic dance music festival. How many people came? 907 100,000, 3 days, 700,000, it became the largest in the world and you walk in between people because I was interested who are these people and you walk in between. They just, they're our youth, they know all the music. We just didn't recognize them and didn't give them the entertainment that they needed in the country. So as soon as you did it, it was natural for us So I think the industrial transformation is really interesting and, and I'm conscious of the time, but you just move toward a post oil economy. And, and first of all, talk a little bit about where you are in the energy transition because that, those were some of the statistics that really shocked me the most. Well, let me tell you something because this is deeply personal. I graduated from uh my bachelor's in 1999 when I went back home. And um the choices of career were very simple, oil and gas, petrochem, um banking, uh retail. Now my daughter Lulu, who is 16 and will graduate in 2030 has a choice of doing whatever she wants. She can make a movie, she can go to space. She wants to be a bio marine engineer as opposed to a skateboarder. Like so good for you. That's well done. I'm happy she has the ambition because I don't have to do my job as a parent. She, she, she handles her own responsibility. But it's, it's a, a real transformation that is rooted in where the people in what the people are doing. And again, going to this, people think of Saudi Arabia as an oil rich nation. And that because of that we don't value oil. Just, no, it's a, it's a resource we care about just like water, just like uh air and, and we, we try to minimize its use. So um in, in, in Riyadh, the real sustainability strategy, which is probably one of the most ambitious in the world calls for 50% renewable by 2030 30% of cars electric. So, uh you know, we are able to manage, manage and balance uh the needs of the nation based on what is most optimal, but it's not just energy. So, um when were you were last here in 2019? Is that right? What's the difference you see in terms of the interest of, of industry, the partnerships, this is a room full of CEO s what's your message to them in terms of the types of companies that are coming here? And I mentioned this in the US. You're also working with China, India and many other countries around the world as well. Yeah, sure. We notice that I'm not projecting, we're in a jazz theater. Uh If anybody needs me to rep um repeat that, but they don't wanna hear from me, they wanna hear from you. So honestly, I think from 2019 to this visit, I think the amount of engagement and wanting to come and explore and see and be part of it all is totally different. I feel a different energy, a di a different perception. Um and I love it because what we are doing in Saudi Arabia is about partnership. We can do 1064 initiatives in seven years alone, right? This is we've been able to scale what we're doing not because of the financial resources that we have. Of course, you need that. It's because of our ability to create partnerships and friendships around the world and to work with others. And many of the people who raise their hand and have come to Saudi Arabia, I hope they will tell you that this is one of the fewest countries in the world where you would go and say, I want to do something. And the answer would be how can we make it bigger together on a personal level? Um um before we get to some final thoughts, what is your own dream for your country? Well, I think, I think a lot about um unleashing human potential and I think the best cities, the best countries in the world that have respect and they respect the dignity of a human being and allow them the resources to become the best that they can be are the countries that ultimately will win. And I think the kingdom today is a place where you can literally do anything. I mean, I came into Saudi Arabia after 18 years of living abroad when I was 22 and II, I came from nothing and through education, I got to run two cities. I mean, that's, that's pretty incredible. Um And I've done everything I've set out to do by the time I was 40 you did everything you set out to do by the time you were 40. So now I have to come up with new plans, new plans like vision 2030 plan. Like, you know, I'd be remiss I want to ask quickly, you know, as a journalist, how should I be thinking about, about freedom of the press in Saudi Arabia? II, I don't think that if you are now in Saudi and you want to criticize my work in the city of Riyadh, you could absolutely do it anywhere because honestly, it's not the media, it's not the platform anymore. You could do it on any of the social media outlets with any handle you want, you can say anything you want about anyone anywhere, right? So I, I don't think that is the issue at all. Um I, I probably, I actually think that probably we have like one of the most free media in the world. So in the 48 seconds, we have left any thoughts you want to convey to the audience in terms of what's next for Saudi Arabia. I think Saudi Arabia is a today, a hub for the future, a hub for people who are dreaming and people who want to do something exciting. And um and we welcome everybody. I would love to host you all in Saudi Arabia at some point and share with you the amazing culture and the amazing, amazing hospitality that we like to welcome people with. Well, I had a great time. So thank you very much, come again and I will and thank you very much for your time. Thank you and I look forward to continuing the conversation. Absolutely. Thank you so much.