"Today women are in government positions ranging from ministerial levels to the Shoura Council, over 100,000 young Saudis are on scholarships overseas, and the media is now free to challenge government performance," he said. The discussion was part of a forum titled, "Saudi Arabia - A New Regional Role, A New Identity."
Hamidaddin highlighted the investments coming into the Kingdom in the recent past - from $3 billion to $34 billion in 6 years.
He also stressed the importance of replacement of expatriates by Saudis in jobs. There are currently 9.5 million expatriates employed in Saudi Arabia, most of them in the retail sector, while 1.2 million Saudi nationals are classified as unemployed. In addition, pressure is growing from the nine million Saudis who are under 25 years old and will be looking for jobs in the foreseeable future.
The panelists also stressed Saudi Arabia's growing prominence as a regional and geo-political player. Ziad Makhzoumi, CFO at Arabtec Holding PJSC, and Alanoud Al-Sharekh, corresponding senior fellow for regional politics at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, were among the other speakers with Francis Matthew, editor-at-large for Gulf News.
"Saudi Arabia has always been a big player in the region for a number of reasons: Its size, its population, its economic power - it has no choice but to play a role and will continue to do so. The problem is, in Saudi Arabia we have a majority of the population that is young, unemployed and frustrated in many ways, and with the other changes in the region there is no choice but to change. The question is: change into what and how fast?" asked Makhzoumi.
Al-Sharekh underlined the wealth of human resources that Saudi Arabia, with 18.7 million Saudi nationals, has at its disposal, but stressed that without opening up industry and seeing a real cultural progression, these resources are being wasted. She also touched upon the issue of guardianship within the country and the impact that has on the prospective female work force. "Without resolving the guardianship and transportation issues, we can't hope to reduce the number of foreign laborers, which is a specified aim of the development plans," Al-Sharekh added.
The panel commended the positive changes made within the regulatory framework of the country with regards to the ease of doing business.
