King Abdullah’s legacies

Abdullah became the sixth king of modern Saudi Arabia in August 2005, after decades of national leadership. In 1963, he became commander of the National Guard, transforming it over several decades into a modern, world-class army. In 1975, he also became a second deputy prime minister and in 1982, was chosen as crown prince and deputy prime minister.
King Abdullah was among world’s most influential leaders. In 2012, he was voted seventh among the World’s Most Powerful People. His record is hard to match anywhere. Globally, he was influential in leading intercultural and interfaith dialogue, shaping the international coalition against terrorism, emboldening voices of moderation and standing up to extremism and divisiveness.
Regionally, King Abdullah offered a comprehensive plan to resolve the Middle East conflict, which was adopted by the League of Arab States as the Arab Peace Initiative in March 2002, but regrettably not taken up by Israel.
Strengthening the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was his preoccupation. In 2001, when still crown prince, he proposed a detailed plan to reform the organization, most of which was subsequently implemented. In 2008, he proposed another set of reforms to make it more effective. In December 2012, he proposed his most ambitious plan for transforming the council into a more cohesive and disciplined union.
Within Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah’s achievements include major milestones in political, economic, judicial and educational reforms. Politically, in 2013, he appointed 30 women to the Shoura Council and announced women participation in the 2015 municipal elections.
Economically, Saudi Arabia’s economy more than doubled in size during his reign; gross domestic product (GDP) rose from $307 billion in 2005 to $753 billion in 2014, making Saudi Arabia the 19th largest world economy in nominal terms and 14th in purchasing power parity (PPP).
In 10 years (2005-2014) government revenues exceeded $2.3 trillion and public spending rose to $1.7 trillion, spent mostly on education, health, physical infrastructure, as well as security and defense. Despite those massive expenditures, by 2015, Saudi financial reserves exceeded $800 billion, while national debt shrank to $44 billion, about 1.6 percent of GDP. In the process of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2005 and since, Saudi Arabia has streamlined its regulatory structure and liberalized the economy. Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) was established to reduce red tape and open up markets to local and foreign investment. After the crash of stock market in 2006, the Capital Market Authority was overhauled to ensure more transparency and accountability in financial markets. In 2011, the National Anti-Corruption Commission was established to monitor compliance in government agencies. Judicial reform was one of his most comprehensive and daring initiatives. King Abdullah Project for Judicial Development has transformed the justice system. It has undertaken to codify major procedural and subject-matter laws, restructure the court system, and provide greater transparency in the judicial process. The reforms have provided a more robust system to uncover irregularities and fraud and prosecute unscrupulous officials.
Education reform was one of his passionate initiatives. King Abdullah Project for Development of General Education has two main goals: To bring Saudi education up to world standards, while emphasizing moderation and tolerance. To speed up this project’s completion, the 2015 budget added $21 billion to its finances.
King Abdullah had a historical role in establishing the concepts of dialogue and tolerance in Saudi society. In July 2003, he announced, while still crown prince, establishment of the National Dialogue Center, stating its mission as “To create channels for responsible expression that will have an effective role in fighting intolerance, zealotry and extremism, and establish a hospitable climate from which wise positions and enlightened opinions could emanate to reject terrorism and terrorists’ thought.” We should not forget that the concepts of “moderation” and “dialogue” were hitherto virtually unknown, and unacceptable, to many quarters in Saudi society.
Later, King Abdullah led an international movement for intercultural and interfaith dialogue. In July 2008, he presided with King Carlos of Spain over the Interfaith Dialogue Conference in Madrid, Spain. In November, he chaired the UN High-Level Meeting on Interfaith Dialogue in New York, which endorsed a General Assembly declaration on dialogue. Those efforts culminated in the establishment in 2012 of the King Abdullah International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Vienna, Austria, to promote dialogue and tolerance.
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