SAGIA Visit

Today we visited Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA), established in 2001 with a mandate to promote foreign direct investment in the Kingdom. We were led by Mr. Alex Snider, our cultural ambassador proficient in exactly five Arabic phrases (they go pretty far!). As soon as we left the hotel in our Chevy Suburban convoy (kinda felt like ‘Syriana’), we were struck by the ongoing economic activity in the nation’s capital. In the background of the hustle and bustle of Riyadh, several cranes and hundreds of migrant workers worked around the clock to help Riyadh cope with the rising demands placed on its infrastructure. In addition to the construction is Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is also in the process of building four state of the art “economic cities”, much like the Special Economic Zones (SEZs), with an aim to attract FDI in the energy, transportation, tourism and financial services sectors. The four economic cities will cost approximately $60 Bn and are expected to be completed by 2025. These economic cities are an effort by SAGIA to diversify away from their oil based economy to help shield the country from volatile oil prices. Saudi Arabia is also planning ahead and investing approximately 25% of its annual budget in education (yes, 25 %!!!) to help develop the human capital required to support an advanced knowledge based economy. Our visit to SAGIA advanced our understanding of the Kingdom’s economy and the forthcoming transformation it faces.

The food thus far has been awesome (or as Joseba says “Awwwwwsummmm” in opera voice). Baklavas and chocolate cake have consistently got the better of Nick B. and me. Will we continue to have more desserts than actual food throughout the trip? Stay tuned.

Jaivir (Jai) Sidhu