The Jeddah Economic Forum which opens later today is the country’s prime economic event. Jeddah may not be Davos but this is a gathering of major significance and of immense value to the Saudi and Gulf business community. It brings in leading international economists and politicians to evaluate issues and trends that affect not just the prosperity and economic well-being of the Kingdom and the region but of the entire world. That is the whole point about it.
The Saudi economy does not exist in isolation. What happens elsewhere affects us here, be it a strike by oil workers in Venezuela, shifts on the New York Stock Exchange or Washington’s reaction to international terrorists. Equally what happens here and in the region affects everyone else around the world. That is painfully evident at present with the fear of war across the Kingdom’s border in Iraq driving up the price of oil. But it is not just oil supplies that make Saudi Arabia a major factor in the global economy: without Saudi consumption, many a manufacturing nation would be in grave difficulties. The JEF is recognition of the important role Saudi Arabia plays in the world economy.
This year’s speakers may not have the mega profiles of those in previous years; there are no equivalents of Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr., Giscard d’Estaing or Helmut Kohl. But while it is a showcase event, the JEF is not a show. It is a tool to help Saudi businessmen and women (something that is particularly pertinent this year) operate at their best. That is not to say that they do not keep their fingers on the pulse. They cannot afford not to. But no businessman or woman can ever have too much knowledge. Even without the limelight-grabbing Clintons and Kohls of past years, this year’s gathering is important in two key ways, which in the future will be seen to have been of great importance.
The daylong session for women prior to the official opening this evening is the first time that Saudi women have been brought together to discuss economic issues that even now in some quarters are still regarded as a male preserve. It is recognition of the increasingly powerful role that women play in the Saudi economy — as company owners, investors, decision makers, consultants and in a host of other jobs. No one can say that Saudi Arabia is not changing.
The presence of former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeni Primakov is also of longer term importance.
Russia has long been the world’s largest producer of oil but now is set to overtake the Kingdom as the largest exporter, possibly within the next year. It is a country with which Saudi Arabia needs to develop a dynamic working relationship — and not just because of oil. People talk about Brazil, India and China being the economic giants of the future: Russia, with a mineral wealth that makes that of the Middle East pale in comparison, has even greater potential. After the chaos and pain of post-communist transformation, its economy is now growing fast and in the right direction. The country is going to be rich and, just as important, powerful once more; probably as powerful as the US. There are problems over Chechnya and they need to be resolved; nonetheless Russia needs to be seen as a future partner for Saudi Arabia, economic as well as political — not, as is the case at the moment, a country to be ignored or regarded with contempt. This year’s JEF may set the ball rolling.
