Saudi Arabia's foreign policy directions, by Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud

well I want first to thank very much uh Prince fael alaran to have come here especially from Riyad uh to to talk with us tonight and uh immediately after our discussion he will fly back to Riad for a dinner my my only I would be totally happy if uh you had invited me for dinner in Riad tonight uh but nevertheless it is such a present to be here that nevertheless I am very pleased well the thank you I'm extremely pleased to be able to be here and uh to have a conversation uh with you I always enjoy our conversations and is glad to share it with all of your friends here and uh you have an open invitation to come have dinner in Riad anytime you want thank you thank you very very much uh now uh I am grateful to you for a second reason I I apologize for your collaborators because I understand that you had a very good speech prepared maybe it could be distributed by the way to us uh later on but you have agreed to replace the speech by a discussion between the two of us so let me start by uh simple question I everybody understand that you have been extremely busy the last three days so what can you tell us uh about the the meetings uh you had in the last three days especially on China uh well uh we had an excellent group of meetings we actually had uh three uh Summits yesterday one was uh just our regular GCC Summit which again uh uh focused on uh continuing to improve and to uh grow uh into GCC Corporation and actually uh something I did want to point out is that we announced in that Summit his Ro hannes announced that we will be proposing uh A A Renewed Vision uh for the GCC we already have what we call the king Salman vision for the uh GCC program which uh resulted in a lot of the economic integration that we've already seen and we are now working on presenting basically version 2.0 of that uh after that we had the GCC China Summit and then we had the Arab uh China Summit both of them were inaugural events the first of their kind and uh for us of course it's an incredibly important uh Prospect to continue to increase our cooperation with our main trade partner it's China is the main trade partner for not just Saudi Arabia but I believe for almost all of the Arab world and uh having this dialogue with the second largest economy in the world is for us critically important as we continue to build our Partnerships uh in the global environment in a way that Fosters the opportunities for growth prosperity for all so in this global environment how do you position yourself in the current increasing tensions between us China now the war in Ukraine and so forth and so on and particularly as far as the oil production is concerned so for us uh from our perspective uh polarization is the last thing we need right now you know we already see tremendous pressures on the global economy we see trem you know inflation uh other is isues food security and more polarization is not a way to solve that it's only a way to exacerbate it so our opinion is that we need to build bridges that we need to strengthen connections and that we need to find areas of cooperation uh the China Arab world China GC Summit was one iteration of that just like the jeda summit uh with the US was it's our uh attempt to continue to build Bridges with all of our International Partners you know the kingdom is uh this year the 15th largest economy in the world it is the L fastest growing economy in the world uh we will be uh hopefully this year the first time reaching a trillion dollars uh in GDP so we are uh growing in importance in part of the uh as part of the global economy and our position the Kingdom's position but also the gcc's position uh as really a bridge between East and West is something that we want to emphasize that we want to build on so as to address all of these challenges that we are facing and uh you know we live in a complicated world world the difficult World there are always going to be issues that need to be addressed but the best way to address them is through dialogue is through interaction is through cooperation and that's our approach would you for to describe your own foreign policy would you uh accept to use the word that the Indians use multi-alignment or maybe multi nonalignment maybe you would prefer that yeah it's not about alignment it's about finding areas of cooperation for us our foreign policy is driven by our need to build sustainable Prosperity first for the Saudi people but then for the people of our region and we hope for the people of the world uh and we look for every opportunity to build on that uh goal so if there is an opportunity to uh work with a partner on the global stage to further our uh uh ability to strengthen our economic uh programs our social programs to strengthen our region and that can happen only through cooporation we will follow those Avenues but if you if you are interested in reducing contributing to reduce tensions in this as you said highly more and more complex world uh since you are not or not yet a superpower uh the main interlocutors I'm thinking of the US and China have to agree with the idea that reducing tensions is a desirable goal so do you think that today the uh us and China are willing to reduce tensions on the whole I can't speak for whether or not they're willing but I can tell you that it is our firm conviction is that they must and that a rise in tensions is not just detrimental to them but of course to all of us and here it's important that we the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a a leading economy as we just said 15th largest economy we expect by 2030 to be at least in the top 10 if not ahead of that but also as a part of the developing world to Galvanize the voices of the developing world to Galvanize the devel the voices of those countries that are most interested in a brighter future in talking to all of our partners to say look let us focus on the future let us focus on cooperation competition is a good thing but competition that leads uh to conflict is a bad thing it's bad for everyone it can only uh be destabilizing it can only uh uh raise uh uh the prospects of uh uh starvation in the developing world of deprivation all of these things so we need to focus on Building Bridges we need to focus on cooperation we need to focus on how do we build sustainable prosperities for us as individual countries but also for the global Community you uh did not uh answer to the question oil production because after all President Biden as far as you can understand visited the Saudi Arabia somewhat Rel reluctantly uh but he did so well if I read the newspapers he did so because he expected that OPC and yourself would agree to increase production uh so what uh what can we say about that uh we can say that Saudi Arabia OPEC OPEC Plus have a very consistent policy our policy is to maintain a stable Market we have worked very very hard to ensure that market maret stability in very difficult times if we go back uh to 201920 when we had covid we had a serious disruption in the oil markets we saw prices in some areas go to negative which disrupted investment in uh the production of energy which led to constraints on the markets we intervened we brought markets back into balance we continue to do that and if you look at uh uh the oil Market compared to the gas market for instance or compared to Coal markets whether in Europe or elsewhere you will see that oil has been relatively stable compared to all other sources of energy even renewable energy and why is that because we have been actively engaged in maintaining stability in the market uh you know we have talked to all of our partners the US others and we have explained very much our approach and uh you know the recent opic uh plus decision uh going back uh to October now uh where we uh announced the $2 million cup uh I think we can now see given where prices are that that decision was entirely Justified and one of the things we have to remember uh uh the price has to be fair to Consumers and suppliers because without a fair price for suppliers suppliers will stop investing and we already seeing significant lack of investment in uh the hydrocarbon space because of the green agenda and other issues but in the long term that may be okay but in the short and medium term that is a problem because we are seeing uh spare capacity continuing to come down if we see a significant recovery in China which we all hope economically will benef you know will happen if we see uh the prospects of a recession dimming and global economic growth going up we will see significant reductions of spare capacity because of the lack of investment the only way we can ensure that there is enough investment and enough spare capacity to to cushion us from Supply shocks in the near and medium term is if the price is fair to supplies and consumers and I would argue that the price at we are where we are now is fair uh most important is it's stable which means that in U investors whether it's governments or uh major companies can see the prospects of a stable oil price now and into the future uh which means that they can make their investment decisions based on that stability we don't see that in other energy markets and that is our core priority that is the Mandate that opic and opic plus have price stability thank you very much this is a very precise answer more generally what can you tell us about Saudi Russia uh relations so we have uh had relations uh uh actually since uh after the first Gulf War and we have continued to had strong relations good relations we've tried to uh improve them we work very closely together of course with an OPEC opic plus historically and that as we I just explained has delivered benefits uh to the energy Market to the all Market uh obviously uh the situation the conflict with Ukraine is something that is of great concern to all of the global community and uh you know we have expressed our opinion that in the uh United Nations General Assembly uh but we as I said in my first remarks believe in dialogue so our priority is dialogue and that includes talking to uh Russia who we still consider uh as uh someone that we can deal with that we have a good relationship with we have seen uh that relationship uh help uh for instance in uh some prisoner swaps so you can build on uh these connections these relationships these trusts to uh help dialogue you know we have tried uh to uh continue to foster a dialogue between Russia and Ukraine we Contin have an engagement something that many don't know is that we actually have commercially our relationship with Ukraine is U our trade relationship before the conflict with Ukraine was larger than it was with Russia so we have a strong relationship with both of those parties and we are focused on continuing to uh Foster the potential for dialogue this conflict will only be uh in the end resolved through dialogue and we need to focus on that and well now many experts and commentators uh complain that the US policy in the Middle East is not uh totally clear to to say the least which of course might have some serious implications because as they say in physics nature bore void so could you comment on that uh I certainly think that the US has a important role to play and that part of that role is of course in the in our region is being very engaged I think they are engaged and I think we have having a very good conversation uh with our partners in the us but we do need to have a real strategic dialogue and that's something that's happening it's happening on the bilateral level but it's also happening GCC uh us it's happening Arab world us so we have I think the US is playing an important role and will continue to play an important role in the region especially from a security perspective and if you compare uh Biden to Trump or or even Obama uh can you are there noticeable differences every president will have difference in style every Administration will have differences in approach and certainly you you know policy is very different between a republican Administration and Democratic Administration so there will be clear differences but in the end I believe us interests are the same whether a republican Administration is an office a democratic Administration an office they may approach uh uh those interests differently but uh we have had a strong relationship with the us through multiple administrations Republican and Democratic so we are very accustomed to dealing with changes in approach in the end the joint interests that bind the US to the region are the same they continue to exist and I believe they will continue to exist in the future and that means uh that the um space for cooperation between the kingdom the GCC uh and the US will continue to be very solid so to continue these two as we say in English the uh what about the gcpa a double question in fact is there in your judgment is there still a CH uh that the treaty will be saved or is it now inevitable that Iran will become a nuclear power and if so what do you do so is there still a chance certainly there is always a chance I cannot say there is no chance uh what I will ask you does necessarily reaching a jca mean that we will not have a nuclear armed Iran I am not so sure you know we are quite skeptical about the J that said we continue to support uh an engagement on the jspa and a return to jspa uh on the condition that that be a starting point not an end point so it' be a starting point to addressing some of the deficiencies within the jca and some of the other issues of concern the signs right now are not very positive unfortunately uh uh we hear from the uh Iranians that they have no interest in a nuclear weapons program it would be uh very comforting to be able to believe that uh we need more Assurance on that level uh if we don't reach a JC I think we enter a very very complicated uh period in our region a very dangerous period that we should avoid that said even if we did come back to a JCP I'm not sure that that is the end I think we need then to look beyond that to a stronger agreement can you elaborate a little further on what on What happens if they get operational nuclear weapon I think clearly if the if the Iran uh gets an operational nuclear weapon all bets are off we are in a very dangerous space in the region uh you know we have already seen significant activity from Iran we could see much more risk from that and of course Regional States will not want to you know to be exposed so to to such a threat without a reaction so you can expect that Regional States will certainly uh uh look towards uh how they can ensure their own security few words on Europe Saudi Europe European Union France in particular because France is my country so this is of course we have started uh last year actually uh we signed an strategic framework with the European Union between the GCC and the European Union which has already uh brought significant progress we restarted our uh FTA talks after they had been stalled for many many years so that's a positive sign and I think uh you know Europe is still one of our main trade partners and it's a very important technological partner so there's a lot we can do with Europe I would say that uh Europe needs to be more engaged in this region uh we have a lot to offer uh Europe in this region we are of course already a very important energy partner but we are also a very important partner for the energy transition so Europe cannot achieve its carbon neutrality goals without this region because you cannot produce enough renewable energy in Europe we are investing the kingdom others in the region tens of billions hundreds of billions of dollars in developing uh uh green hydrogen capacity in developing solar energy capacity wind capacity the capacity to export that green energy uh to Europe and elsewhere so we will be a key partner for Europe well into the uh Next Century so we want to build on on that partnership the relationship between the kingdom and France is very very strong I can say uh that we can see President mcon is very engaged in the region is very active in trying to uh work with France's Partners in the region and we have built a excellent working relationship with our French counterparts across the board whether it's in the economic side but also the political side dealing with regional uh uh files whether it's Lebanon uh Iran Etc so we uh we look towards strengthening that relationship and uh France has been as I said very proactive and that's something that we we appreciate so uh I I would like to spend the last few minutes to say a few words about the domestic situation because I think not so many people in Europe in particular understand what is going on in Saudi Arabia and a lot of things are going on but before that is there any important question on Foreign Affairs that I did not ask uh I would not presume uh uh Terry to tell you what is important in foreign Affair that's what I call you an Ask well but if anyone here think there is one important question that I did not ask which is very possible you know because uh but apparently one two three no no I'm talking of global Affairs no no well well apparently uh I don't see oh yes yes maybe your re Abraham Accord that's good question sure what's the question huh what's the question what is the answer because you know if the question uh it it's it's better to start from the answer because after all you have today a big I can tell you what the answer is yeah the answer is a Palestinian State the answer is a Palestinian State yes yes yes I I remember a discussion in Paris on that and that's that's a very serious point so uh next time we have the pleasure of being with you perhaps you should concentrate with a few others on the issue of the of the of the Palestinian State well now uh if I think we have maybe five more minutes or something like that why I think we should it would be good to take the opportunity of having you because you are uh typically representative the new generation uh of leaders in Saudi Arabia if I may remind you are of course Saudi citizen your father is Saud F but your mother was a German citizen uh you speak uh Germany uh as as fluently as English his English is extremely good too I must say so you are very International there is a new generation of business people open to the world so can you just tell us a few words about how you see your country today and and the dream uh of uh the young Saudis for the next uh generation let's say first I'm actually already relatively old because I'm in my late 40s and 70% of Saudis are under 35 so I am uh I'm actually one of the later generation but I'm happy to contribute as much as I can under the leadership uh of his majesty the king and the Crown Prince to setting up the future for this younger generation and uh I think it's a tremendously exciting time to be working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia uh we are undergoing break neck change uh we are uh most importantly working under a clear road map under a clear vision and I referred to it earlier building sustainable prosperity for the Saudi people and that is the absolute priority the absolute driving ethos of everything that the government of Saudi Arabia does whether it's domestic policy whether it's foreign policy so my mandate as foreign minister is very clear my mandate is to support and to enhance the prospects of achieving the goals of of that Vision sustainable prosperity for the Saudi people and that's what I spend most of my time on and uh that's tremendously exciting to have a very clear uh Direction what you're working on what are the goals what are the objectives and and of course we could go into any number of details uh but you know we mentioned one of them the fact that we are uh this year going to uh uh probably reach1 trillion dollar uh GDP size for the first time in our history the fact that Saudi Arabia with all of the challenges that this region presents is the fastest growing economy in uh uh uh the world that we are on track to being the fastest growing economy in the G20 for the next five years according to our estimates the fact that we have uh uh plans in place that will likely mean that we are uh by 2030 in the top eight economies in uh the world all of that means that it's a tremendously exciting time to be part of the government under the leadership of uh uh the king and the Crown Prince and it it means also that we have a lot a lot a lot of expectations to live up to but you know we have a fantastic team we have fantastic energy within the government to work that and most important if you you know we hope you can visit us in the kingdom and all of you here you can see the energy in the kingdom and that energy is infectious you can see people really being excited about the future you can see people being uh engaged in in in in the future unemployment numbers are down home ownership numbers are at historic highs um uh you know we are now already very long around on the path towards diversifying our economy away from a dependence on oil uh all of these targets are moving steadily ahead and that is contributing not just to uh the success of the Kingdom but also we hope and we believe to the regional uh success do you of course the country is extremely young as you reminded us but uh do you still have resistance some kind of social resistance from the older oldest generation so as one of that older generation I can tell you that no no no I am talking the My Generation for instance my generation of Saudis yeah you would be surprised this is something that's I think everything that the kingdom is doing because we are doing it in a very very well studied way because the leadership has taken care to study every decision and based on a clear logic a clear logic of numbers a clear logic of um uh uh uh of necessity uh everybody understands and everybody is excited even the older Generations you know people that are older than I people are very very engaged and I hope you know when you visit the kingdom Terry you will see how engaged everybody is across the board it you know everybody will have their opinions but in the end the energy the prospect of uh moving towards the future I think what you will hear most is of most people is we've been waiting for this for many years and we're just so happy that we get to see it so a very last question we could spend a lot of time with you but you already were very generous but a very last time that would Bridge the two topics that is foreign affairs and domestic affairs there is a very classical subject very much discussed by uh uh professors that is the relationship between domestic uh and foreign policy so in your position today how do you see this relation absolutely key so I alluded to it earlier my mandate from my leadership is very clear Saudi Arabia's foreign policy is a tool for its domestic Prosperity that is the top priority how can we deliver sustainable prosperity for the Sadi people everything we do on the foreign policy issue must be focused primarily on that and that of course means protecting our interests building Partnerships but it also means building a stable secure region because you cannot uh build prosperity in a turbulent region it also means working with our Global Partners to ensure global stability because as we have seen from the conflict uh in Ukraine uh a crisis anywhere in the world can have impacts all around the world so we must if we want to protect our pathways to sustainable Prosperity we must be engaged in the world so one of U the results of that mandate is that we are trying to be more engaged not just in our immediate region but globally in a way that serves our interests but that serves the interests of The Wider Global Community with a focus I have to say really on the developing world because for us uh you know we feel very strongly that the developing world's voice has not been uh heard enough and we are of course uh part of the developing world still uh you know and we see that the global agenda historically has often been set in a way that has ignored the interests of developing countries most of the time out of the best intentions but still uh they have not served really effectively the developmental path of those developing countries in a way that is most effective so we want to be part of the global conversation that in a way that ensures everybody has a pathway to Prosperity because we you know even in the regional context we have taken an approach that it is absolutely key that our immediate Neighbors not just stable they are also prosperous because if they have growing economies if they have uh uh growing markets that is for us an opportunity and vice versa if we are stable if we are growing we provide a great market for them so that's the key Focus for our foreign policy you know at a at a different scale it seems to be that the formulation uh your formulation is very close to that that we had yesterday similar discussion with Dr anir garash uh on the the UAE foreign foreign policy so you you your general philosophy is is quite similar uh I think if you talk to any GCC foreign minister yeah you will hear the same message yes and this is just a reflection again that we are very much a strong unified block that we work together very effectively that we have very similar Visions our leadership uh in the UAE in the in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia you know the various countries leaderships are very close to each other they work together they work towards ensuring prosperity for not just their countries but the region and we're going to continue to do that I will ask our European Union friends to follow your example we are happy to share our experiences well it's time to uh end this session uh thank you very much I think you were great if you allow me to speak in this way excellent uh discussion and uh I wish you all the best for you personally for your country and I hope that Saudi Arabia will be more uh present in the world policy conference in the uh forthcoming Years thank you very much have a safe trip back and I hope you will be back on time uh in Riad for this dinner to which I am not participating well thank you very much Terry thank and thank you all [Music]