Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Press Agency via Reuters
Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Press Agency via Reuters
Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Press Agency via Reuters
Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Press Agency via Reuters

Mohammed bin Salman's London visit marks a key moment in Saudi Arabia's transformation programme


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Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's official visit to Britain, which starts on Wednesday, is a vital milestone on the road to his efforts to initiate wholesale economic and social reform in his country.

Since being appointed by his father, King Salman, last June, the 32-year-old Crown Prince has been charged with making radical changes to the kingdom's conservative outlook.

And Prince Mohammed regards maintaining a close and constructive relationship with the UK as being vital to the reform programme's chances of success, as he made clear when, prior to his arrival in London, I had an exclusive interview with him for the Daily Telegraph at his impressive residence in the upmarket Riyadh suburb of Irqah.

“After Brexit, there will be huge opportunities for Britain as a result of Vision 2030,” said Prince Mohammed, referring to Saudi Arabia’s ambitious programme to diversify the country’s economy away from its traditional dependence on the oil sector.

“The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Britain is historic, and goes back to the foundation of the kingdom. We have a common interest that goes back to the earliest days of the relationship.”

Vision 2030 forms the centrepiece of his reform programme, whereby he aims to diversify into new industries and technologies, thereby helping the country to become economically more self-sufficient.

The economic reform programme, moreover, is widely regarded as being the driving force behind an equally ambitious social agenda, one where the traditional influence of the country’s conservative-minded clerical establishment is replaced by a more liberal approach, one that is more cognizant of women’s rights.

“We believe that Saudi Arabia needs to be part of the global economy,” Prince Mohammed told me. “People need to be able to move freely, and we need to apply the same standards as the rest of the world.”

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He explained that he sees the social reforms he is driving through as being part and parcel of his efforts to make the kingdom better aligned with the rest of the world. Indeed, most of the international headlines concerning the kingdom at present tend to relate to the new opportunities being afforded the country's womenfolk, from being allowed to drive their own cars to running their own businesses. Earlier this week hundreds of Saudi women runners, many of them dressed in traditional clothing, participated in the country's first female running race.

Such changes, though, can only be accomplished if Prince Mohammed proves his credentials in a far more demanding arena, namely the global financial markets where he needs to win the backing of international investors if he is to acquire the financial clout that will allow him to press ahead with restructuring the economy.

And this is what really makes his visit to London this week so important.

For the reform programme to work, the Saudis need to raise capital to fund Vision 2030, and they plan to do this by raising around $100 billion by floating a stake in Saudi Aramco, the state-owned energy company, on the international markets.

While several cities, including New York and London, are vying to handle the listing, it looks increasingly as though the London Stock Exchange is best-placed to handle it. US President Donald Trump might be lobbying hard to have it handled by Wall Street, but there are fears that if the Saudis opt for New York, they could find themselves liable to costly legal challenges from the families of Islamist terror victims as result of the recent Jasta legislation passed by Congress.

If the Aramco float is to take place in London, a final decision is expected after the crown prince has completed his world tour of Britain, France and the US, then the Saudis need to reassure investors that it is a worthwhile investment.

Which explains why Prince Mohammed is going out of his way to stress the importance of the UK-Saudi relationship during this week’s visit to Britain.

One vital area of cooperation between the two countries that Prince Mohammed was keen to emphasise during our interview relates to the sphere of defence and intelligence-sharing, a long-standing relationship that British intelligence officials say has thwarted a number of major terror attacks against the UK.

“The British and Saudi people, along with the rest of the world, will be much safer if you have a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia,” he explained. “We want to fight terrorism and we want to fight extremism because we need to build stability in the Middle East.”

Key to his thinking on this issue is that the success of the economic reform programme set out in Vision 2030 will be to the benefit not just of Saudi Arabia, but the entire Middle East, a development he believes will help to defeat the extremists.

“We want economic growth, which will help the region to develop,” he told me. “Because of our dominant position, Saudi Arabia is the key to the economic success of the region.”

The British government certainly recognises the importance of Saudi’s contribution to combating terrorism and extremism, and during his visit the crown prince will have private meetings with the heads of the MI5 and MI6 security and intelligence agencies, as well as attending a meeting of the full National Security Council.

Britain clearly wants to make a success of Prince Mohammed’s visit, which can only be good news for the future prospects of his ambitious economic and social reform agenda.

Con Coughlin is the Daily Telegraph’s Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser

Rating: 4.5/5

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June 5: Leeds, UK
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Date TBC: Chengdu, China

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While you're here
Brief scores:

Toss: Nepal, chose to field

UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23

Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17

Result: UAE won by 21 runs

Series: UAE lead 1-0

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The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.

 Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.

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The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.

The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.

Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.

Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment

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Continental champions

Best Asian Player: Massaki Todokoro (Japan)

Best European Player: Adam Wardzinski (Poland)

Best North & Central American Player: DJ Jackson (United States)

Best African Player: Walter Dos Santos (Angola)

Best Oceanian Player: Lee Ting (Australia)

Best South American Player: Gabriel De Sousa (Brazil)

Best Asian Federation: Saudi Jiu-Jitsu Federation

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Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Favourite travel destination: Maldives and south of France

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Favourite Movie: Joker (2019). I didn’t like it while I was watching it but then afterwards I loved it. I loved the psychology behind it.

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Rosewood and Transparent — heart issues

24: Legacy — PTSD;

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Trial & Error — cognitive disorder prosopagnosia (facial blindness and dyslexia)

Grey’s Anatomy — prosthetic leg

Scorpion — obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety

Switched at Birth — deafness

One Mississippi, Wentworth and Transparent — double mastectomy

Dragons — double amputee

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