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Delegation Reports
Outward delegation to Saudi Arabia
- 17 to 20 April 2006
Report by Ian Davidson MP
Delegation
Ian Davidson
Leader of the delegation
Labour
Huw Irranca-Davies MP
Labour
Lord Ahmed
Labour
Graham Brady
Conservative
Peter Viggers
Conservative
Lord Rogan
Crossbencher
A delegation of six visited Saudi Arabia to participate in the Two Kingdoms
conference and have other meetings.
Thanks to the effectiveness of the embassy in setting up meetings around
the conference, we were able to maximise the use of the 48 hours available.
We met the President and Chairman of the Majlis al-Shura, various Ministers,
the Foreign Affairs and Saudi/British friendship committees of the Majlis
and members of the National Dialogue Centre.
We visited the King Abdul Aziz Historical Centre and the British Council
Common Ground exhibition; and attended a number of lunches, dinners and
receptions. All of these were well attended by a large number of Majlis
members, government officials, embassy staff and other delegates to the
conference.
Those Saudis whom the delegation met were overwhelmingly from the elite
of the highly educated and prosperous, with a clear desire to achieve
political stability.
The overwhelming majority of our discussions centred upon how Saudi could
develop, with a greater sharing of wealth and power in order to retain
the loyalty of the population.
Given the enormously high percentage of young people - approximately 55
per cent of the population are under 20 - much discussion focused on how
the economy could be diversified and developed to provide meaningful employment
at acceptable wage levels for this population, to avoid their marginalisation
and slide into extremism.
Apart from discussions on foreign affairs, particularly the Middle East,
which were interesting but predictable, the vast majority of our discussions
centred on these governance difficulties in Saudi Arabia.
Because the United Kingdom is held in high esteem, not only because of
our historical involvement but also the present absence of any credible
rivals for influence, there would appear to be unprecedented opportunities
for various British agencies to play a constructive role.
Saudi Arabia needs assistance in diversifying its economy into industry
and commerce, using off-set resources as appropriate. It also seeks assistance
to develop a modern education and training framework, suitable to equip
its young people for economic participation in a modern economy. They
also seek assistance with the attitudinal change that will be necessary.
The Two Kingdoms conference appears to be one of the first public events
where women were allowed to sit with men and participate in discussions
as equals. This would appear to indicate the positive effect that linkages
with British parliamentarians can have.
There are large differences between Saudi mores and our own, which will
require a great deal of dialogue to overcome, but there is certainly considerable
scope for showing how the British system works to members of the Majlis
al-Shura (a blending of democratic centralism and the House of Lords)
as part of an expansion of human links through culture, sport and politics.
Potentially there is an enormous role for British parliamentarians to
play in assisting our Saudi colleagues as well as in promoting economic,
educational and human links.
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