Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who became the Kingdom’s ruler on Aug. 1, 2005, is a cautious reformer and an ardent advocate of Arab and Islamic unity. He has supported women’s rights and empowerment by allowing them to take part in chamber elections and increasing their job opportunities.
In his brief but significant speech after taking power, King Abdullah said he would work to establish justice for all. “I pledge to God, and then I pledge to you, that I take the Holy Qur’an as my constitution, Islam as my program and I will work for justice and serve all citizens without discrimination,” he said. He urged the Saudi people to help him in carrying out his responsibilities and provide him with necessary advice.
King Abdullah’s five months in power have seen his active role in the successful organization of the extraordinary Islamic summit in Makkah; in winning Saudi Arabia’s accession to the World Trade Organization; the launch of King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh; the start of the 8th Five-Year Development Plan; and enacting the new Labor Law and the Domestic Pilgrims Law.
King Abdullah did not make a Cabinet reshuffle when he took over power. “All members of the current Council of Ministers will be maintained in their positions, under our leadership,” said a decree issued by the king. The royal decree said Crown Prince Sultan, who was named deputy premier, would remain defense minister.
The fifth son of Saudi Arabia’s founder, King Abdul Aziz, to ascend the throne, King Abdullah is expected to forge ahead with political, social and economic reform programs in order to guide the Kingdom to new heights of progress and prosperity.
He laid the foundation stone for the SR100 billion ($26.6 billion) King Abdullah Economic City on Dec. 20, 2005. The project, designed to make Saudi Arabia a magnet for overseas investors, is being developed by Emaar Properties in conjunction with Aseer Trading, Tourism & Manufacturing Co. and the Binladin Group from Saudi Arabia. It will create 500,000 new jobs.
The new age city will comprise six distinct components: A modern world-class seaport, an industrial district, a financial island, an education zone, resorts and a residential area. Central to the mega project is the creation of a 2.6 million sq. m. new Millennium Seaport similar in size to the world’s Top 10 ports.
The Makkah Islamic summit, which was called by the king, was a resounding success as it approved a 10-year action plan for the overall development of OIC member countries and gave the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims new hopes for a brighter future. Unlike previous summits of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Makkah summit was well-prepared and presented an agenda looking to the future of the Muslim world. It also called for a complete face lift of the organization in order for it to play an effective role on the world stage.
The ruler of the world’s largest oil exporter, King Abdullah has always reiterated his country’s support to stabilize the international oil market and bring down skyrocketing prices in order to protect the interests of both producers and consumers. He urged oil-consuming nations to cut energy taxes in order to bring down soaring prices.
The first national budget announced by King Abdullah recently was the largest in the Kingdom’s history as it projected revenues at a record SR390 billion and expenditures at SR335 billion. It allocated SR126 billion for new projects. While unveiling the budget, King Abdullah said the government had brought down its public debt to SR475 billion. “We have set aside 26 percent of the budget for education and training,” the king said.
Abdullah initiated the national dialogue forums two years ago to fight extremism and intolerance and set up the King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center. “The forums organized by the center must deal with issues and thoughts, which citizens want experts to discuss,” King Abdullah said in a recent statement. “These forums bring together Saudi people and build bridges of contact and discourse between them,” he said.
Just three weeks after his takeover, King Abdullah ordered a 15 percent salary increase for all Saudi nationals who were government employees. In addition, more than SR80 billion from the 2005 budget was allocated for educational, health, housing and other welfare and service projects. He also increased by 15 percent the financial remuneration of Shoura Council members. A royal decree said the increase would be effective from Oct. 4, 2005. The decree increased the maximum social insurance allocation for families from SR16,200 to SR28,000 annually.
King Abdullah won international recognition by launching an unprecedented crackdown on Al-Qaeda terrorists, blamed for a series of bombings and shootings across the Kingdom since May 2003. “We’ll flush out the deviants from the country, no matter how long it takes,” he told tribal leaders who came to voice their support for the government’s anti-terror campaign.
King Abdullah set up a seven-member National Security Council, which includes the defense, interior and foreign ministers, as part of a broader move to strengthen security measures in the country. He appointed Prince Muqrin, formerly governor of Madinah, as head of the general intelligence. While he was crown prince, Abdullah initiated a series of reforms to liberalize the state-dominated economy, which eventually led to the Kingdom’s accession to the WTO.
He shares with King Fahd the credit for holding the country’s first-ever nationwide municipal elections to pick half the members of its 178 local councils. He also took initiatives to empower women and increase job opportunities for them.
King Abdullah has traveled widely to strengthen the Kingdom’s relations with other countries, emphasize Riyadh’s position on various issues and mobilize support for Arab and Islamic causes, most importantly the Palestinian issue.
Abdullah was successful in bringing Saudi-US ties back to normal. In April this year, Abdullah met US President George W. Bush at his Texas ranch and discussed major issues including Palestine and Iraq as well as ways of strengthening bilateral relations. While in the US, Abdullah invited American businessmen to invest in Saudi Arabia, especially in its gas and mining sectors. “Economic reforms in the Kingdom have created a new investment-friendly environment that welcomes investors,” he said.
King Abdullah later sent a 50-member Saudi trade mission to the United States to promote investment projects worth SR2.33 trillion ($623 billion) in natural gas, petrochemicals, water, electricity and other vital sectors. The delegation had a good reception in the five US states it visited.
The Middle East peace plan endorsed by the Arab League summit in Beirut was originally proposed by Abdullah to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. His peace proposal offers Israel normal ties with Arabs in exchange for full withdrawal from all Arab land occupied in the 1967 Middle East War.
Inside the Kingdom, Abdullah has become popular through implementing welfare and investment projects, introducing new political and economic reforms and taking steps to fight poverty. He also won the hearts of Saudi youth by creating new job opportunities for them in the private sector.
King Abdullah launched two new giant industrial cities (Jubail-2 and Yanbu-2) in the Kingdom’s Eastern and Western Regions in recent months, paving the way for new investment projects worth billions of riyals.
A humanitarian king, Abdullah was the first to visit poor neighborhoods in the capital city two years ago and to launch a series of schemes to fight poverty in various parts of the country. He allocated SR2 billion from the budget surplus to build low-cost housing units for the poor and needy in various parts of the Kingdom.
He instructed the Prince Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz Foundation, a charity named in his honor, to expand its housing projects all over the Kingdom for the benefit of underprivileged sections of Saudi society. The charity is constructing 2,070 houses in different parts of the Kingdom at a cost of SR385 million.
