MSFS in Saudi Arabia- in three minutes.

Day 4

Day Four: Our final day in Riyadh before leaving for Dammam proved to be a productive day filled with interesting and thought-provoking meetings. A late Sunday night and early Monday morning wake-up left many of us bleary-eyed and a bit groggy, but it was nothing that the coffee and delicious breakfast of the Ritz Carlton Riyadh couldn’t fix. One thing is for sure -- none of us can complain about lack of tasty food here in Saudi Arabia!

The fourteen of us piled into our now familiar minibus and traveled to the brand new King Abdulaziz Public Library, which has been open for a mere two months. Mr. Hussain Ahmad Al-Yami, Head of the Foreign Collections Department, toured us through a display of various still photographs of the King with heads of state, children, and other Saudi royalty. Through our tour of the library space, we learned that the library is home to millions of Arabic language books and thousands of volumes in other languages like English, French, Italian, and German. The new library was quite impressive with many new computers and work stations. We learned that there are not a lot of public libraries in Saudi (most of them are contained within universities) and thus this library is proud that they “strive to make books available to everyone.” They are working towards digitizing their collection too. Mr. Al-Yami entertained a number of questions from our group on everything from banned books to the availability of bookstores in Saudi to the accessibility of the library to Saudis outside of Riyadh. The gender segregation that permeates Saudi society is also present in the public library system; there is a separate library for women.

At our next meeting at SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corporation), we were greeted with the Saudi hospitality that we have come to appreciate so much. A delicious spread of sandwiches, juices, cookies, and vegetables reinvigorated us for the meeting. SABIC is the largest and most profitable non-oil company in the Middle East. It is also one of the world’s five largest petrochemicals manufacturers and the number one steel manufacturer in the Middle East. The Saudi government owns 70% of the company’s shares and private investors including other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council holdthe other 30%. Mr. Samir A. Al-Abdrabbuh, VP of Corporate Communications, and his team showed a presentation on the new SABIC brand that focuses on making chemicals that matter to the world through ‘trust, ambition, and growth.’ We were surprised to hear how young the company is – only 35 years old – and how it boasts over 33,000 employees. To continually invest in their workforce, SABIC utilizes a training and education academy on the Riyadh campus. Mr. Al-Abdrabbuh shared that the secret to retaining top talent in the company (he has been with SABIC for 27 years) is to“keep people challenged” in their daily work.

SABIC emphasized their role as a global company with facilities around the world and millions of joint ventures. We also discussed issues of sustainability, corporate social responsibility, labor, and low cost materials. Because our time at SABIC shortened due to scheduling constraints, we left with a sense of wanting to know more and dig continue to dig beyond the sleek public relations language. Overall, we greatly appreciated the opportunity to interact with such a significant Saudi company.

At our final stop of the day, our group found a refreshing sight at the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) – women workers! We learned that half of the executive team of SAGIA is female and 25% of the overall workforce there is female. SAGIA’s Assistant Deputy for Research, Analysis, & Councils, Mr. Omar Hamad A. Ali Mahdhi, gave us an overview of SAGIA and its strategies. The agency’s goal is to “attract sufficient investment to achieve rapid and sustainable economic growth in Saudi Arabia, capitalizing on the Kingdom’s competitive strengths as the global capital of energy and a major hub between East and West.” Having worked for a similar agency in the US, I found this visit particularly fascinating. SAGIA focuses on three major initiatives to meet their economic growth objectives: a National Competitiveness Center, Economic Cities (zones witheased regulations and government services), and promotion of energy, transport, and knowledge-based sectors.

SAGIA is proud of its progress on the World Bank Doing Business rankings (moved from #93 of 145 in 2004 to #11 of 181 in 201) and also UNCTAD’s Global FDI ranking (from #27 in 2006 to #8 in 2010). We were all intrigued by the tax incentives that SAGIA uses to attract FDI and ensure that companies have the skilled workforce needed to be successful. SAGIA is also focused on promoting entrepreneurship and recognized that entrepreneurs are an “awkward breed” in the country due to a stigma associated with the risk of going into a potentially unstable and risky career. I was also excited to hear them mention the efforts of the office that I currently intern with at the State Department –the Global Entrepreneurship Program. It’s been very enlightening to realize the various synergies that SAGIA’s work has with both my past and present work experiences.

Another interesting discussion percolated regarding Saudi’s relationship with China (another theme running throughout this trip). Chinese FDI is a significant source of investment in the Kingdom. They perceive their economic relationship with China as an act of balancing and the development of an important relationship during the of the “rise of the East.” As Mr. Madhiput it, “The rise of China is definitely happening in Saudi Arabia.”

The meetings today raised many questions for us. How does Saudi Arabia expect to reconcile the desire to be a global economic power but still resist social and cultural liberalization? Do they need to reconcile these two objectives that seem to be at odds to us as foreigners? At many of our meetings, Saudis mention continual gradual change and reform, but we wonder if there will be a breaking point between those who want Saudi to be a major global economic player and those who outright reject any Western influence or liberalization as a perceived threat to Islam and Saudi culture. We have seen many things that we as Americans appreciate – public libraries, the press, universities, and educated working women. And while we see many things that we perceive as ‘good,’ there are still fundamental cultural differences that we continue to grapple with.

We were sad to leave our beautiful abode in Riyadh, but are excited to see another area of Saudi. Our luggage piled to the ceiling in the back of our minibus was quite the sight to see as we made the journey from the airport in Dammam to our new hotel. Our guides from the Ministry of Higher Education are constantly working to assure that we are enjoying ourselves – and we truly are. We’re looking forward to the next several days in Dammam.

Day 3: Riyadh

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: After our first full day here, the snapshots of the city that come to mind are the cloudless, cool March weather and the massive buildings that are scattered throughout the city. As Ariel mentioned in her post, large construction projects seem to be underway throughout much of the city, and the towering glass skyscrapers stand out in stark contrast (e.g. Kingdom Tower) against the more ubiquitous sand colored buildings that characterize the urban landscape of Riyadh. Among these buildings are the university campuses that housed most of our first day activities here, which were a series of visits to two universities. Public university takes on an entirely different meaning here – the schools, at the least the ones we visited, are sprawling complexes comprised of open-air spaces, verdant lawns, and intricately beautiful arabesque design; they are the architectural marvels that house Saudi higher education. The girls were off on a separate visit for the first half of the morning, so the guys started off at King Saud University, the first university established in the country in 1957 – which stands on about 5.5 square miles of property!

The visits were a whirlwind of meetings with meetings with various deans and professors at the university. The emphasis on education in this country is impressive – one of the professors that we met with mentioned that the country spends 26% of GDP on education alone. The university dean emphasized that one of their main goals is to become a top 100 ranked university on the Academic Ranking of World Universities within the next several years (KSU is currently ranked in the 201-300 group). Certainly, the various programs at KSU that were introduced to us also reflect the importance of KSU to the greater Saudi society. The National Center for Youth Studies is a center focused on researching the issues and challenges that the youth of the country face, which to my surprise, are youth drug usage and divorce among parents. We also spoke with the professors at the Prince Salman Entrepreneurship Institute, who are focused on training budding Saudi entrepreneurs, particularly important for driving innovation in a country where most graduates seem to pursue safer careers either in the private sector or with the government. Another highlight from today was meeting with a professor who teaches a Saudi foreign policy class in the political science department. Despite being somewhat pressed for time, we were able to hear his take on the big foreign policy issues facing Saudi Arabia – the possibility of a nuclear Iran, the developments of the Arab Spring, and instability in Yemen, as well as his take on Saudi soft power in the Middle East. We also met with a professor who shared the various other programs KSU has initiated or implemented – ranging from its work in nanotechnology, intellectual property, as well as Riyadh Techno Valley – a R&D park focused on attracting investment by major companies that will help spur innovation and knowledge transfer back to these companies.

Speaking with this professor revealed, at least in my opinion, one of the many purposes behind the enormous investments in education – creating a sustainable and diversified economic future for Saudi beyond oil wealth. While wealth clearly abounds here, the professor also noted the basic facts facing Saudi Arabia – the finite nature of the oil supply. Furthermore, sustaining the city (and country) is very costly. Desalinization of ocean water is extremely expensive, not to mention the costs associated with piping desalinated water into the city from the coast, which is almost 300 miles away. The city’s energy needs are also expensive, where scorching summers require heavy air conditioning usage throughout Riyadh. In other words, it seems that many of these programs at KSU are geared towards developing a long term future beyond oil wealth, and creating a “knowledge-based economy” that will be well-prepared to face the various challenges that Saudi Arabia currently faces, as well the challenges that remain in the future. While they don’t have all the answers yet on potential solutions, such as alternative energy sources, they are definitely learning, researching, and looking forward.

Our first full day in Saudi Arabia was packed with visits to other places that I wasn’t even able to start discussing (Al Riyadh newspaper and the newly constructed Princess Nora Abdul Rahman University; a huge, amazing campus with its own internal tram system, as well as a behemoth library that holds 5 million books – with automated retrieval!), not to mention a tiring one, but it has definitely been a great start to this trip. Many thanks to the numerous faculty/staff at KSU, Al Riyadh, and PNU for hosting and speaking with us! Also – we’re belated in expressing this on our blog, but many thanks also to Professor Seznec from Georgetown for briefing us on Saudi Arabia before we left, and also a shout out to Claire and Brian for being our cultural experts as well as trip “leaders.” You are (all) awesome! More pictures to come when faster internet connection permits…

Day 2

 
 It is officially Day Two of our trip- we left early evening March 2 and got here in the afternoon on March 3. Our first taste of Saudi was actually some rather good food on the plane; many people ordered the lamb, which received rave reviews. Our second taste was when we entered Saudi airspace and the women on the plane began to change into their abayas and head scarves, which included the ladies in our party. After landing, we passed through immigration and met our guide, Saad, who is rather funny and very nice. On our way to the hotel, we noticed right away the massive amounts of construction that are taking place, almost like brand new cities are being built all at once. The rate of construction here is astounding, thanks to deep pockets of funding from government and business.

Thanks to the KSA, we are staying at the Ritz Carlton Riyadh, which is one of the luxurious hotels I have seen in my life. it's a little over-the-top, but one can appreciate the intricate details that were put into every room. Apparently, it has been open only three and a half months and already it has been ranked as the top hotel in the Middle East.  Our guide shared with us that it took 3000 people working each shift for 24 hours a day to complete construction in just two years. We went on a great tour of the hotel this evening and saw beautiful ornate wall decorations. Apparently they are made out of a special material from Morocco. A few pictures of ceiling decor are included here. Ken also made good use of the baby grand piano and led us in a brief sing-a-long in the room overlooking the pool.

When we left for this trip, we had all been aware that the sexes are treated differently in Saudi Arabia; the women were expecting not to be able to swim in the gorgeous pool or use the spa. What we weren't prepared for is how easily we are slipping into a subconscious division amongst ourselves; it could just be coincidence, but our last three meetings found us grouped in girls and guys, which hadn't been an issue at the Dulles. There are still some things we aren't sure about, like when its acceptable for women to sit with men (we made sure to wait to be seated at the restaurant) or being able to wander around by ourselves. This is a fairly international hotel, but according to the staff here, they too are still trying to figure out which norms to use in common spaces.

We had a lovely dinner at the hotel restaurant (only one is open so far). We were pleased with the international cuisine- there was so much to try -especially with some of the fun desserts that had what appeared to be gold dust on top and lots of pistachio-themed goodies and an extensive salad bar full of olives, various types of hummus, tons of fish salads and smoked fish, and of course, labneh. It's been a long day and we're all eager to hit the hay. We're excited to learn more about Saudi Arabia tomorrow and embark on male/female adventures to the universities.

Day 1

In just a few hours, fourteen Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) students from Georgetown University will begin the 7,000 mile journey from Washington, D.C. to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Some of the students have spent years living in the Middle East or have traveled extensively throughout the region. For others—like me—this will be the first time. While we come to this trip with varying degrees of experience, the level of enthusiasm across the board is quite high.

We are grateful to the Saudi Ministry of Education for organizing and sponsoring this opportunity and to Eleanor Monte-Jones, Associate Director of MSFS, for acting as liaison with the Saudi embassy and preparing the paperwork associated with the trip.

During our stay, we will visit a range of government agencies, educational institutions, and historical sites. Each day, a representative from our delegation will share experiences and impressions here. We invite you to visit our blog frequently for continued updates about our trip.