The Government and the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia celebrate on this day— the 23rd of September 2021, its National Day, which marks the anniversary of the unification and founding of the Kingdom in 1932 by His Majesty the late King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Faisal Al Saud, who with the help and blessing of God, was able to establish the Kingdom. Under one banner, which is the eternal banner of Islam, the late King transformed the Kingdom once ruptured and divided into a single entity and homeland based on justice, equality, and love, eliminating fear, instability, ignorance, and disease and establishing a strong modern state on the firm foundation of the rules of the tolerant Islamic Sharia which defines its directions and goals and lays the building-blocks for its renaissance. Since that date, the Kingdom has been moving at a steady pace on the same approach that the great late King and his righteous sons walked after him, praising and extending the construction until the Kingdom reached the remarkable height in our present prosperous era, the Era of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, which preserves the Kingdom to a very high degree of sophistication and progress.
The Kingdom is keen in its foreign policy based on the principles and constants within the major international frameworks, the most important of which is good neighborliness and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries; strengthening the relations to serve common interests with the world; establishing cooperative relations with friendly countries and playing an active role within the framework of regional and international organizations to establish international peace and security.
His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, launched the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 based on 3 axes: a vibrant society, a prosperous economy, and an ambitious homeland. These axes are complementary and consistent with each other to achieve the Kingdom’s goals. The Kingdom has many latent opportunities and diverse wealth, but the real wealth of the Kingdom lies in individuals and society. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is proud of what makes it an exceptional nation, namely, the Islamic religion and the national unity, where the happiness of citizens and residents comes at the top of the Kingdom’s priorities. Their happiness does not occur without the completion of their physical and psychological health. The social and the community will enjoy a good quality of life, a healthy lifestyle, and an environment that allows living positively.
The Kingdom’s goal is to promote and develop the principles of social care; to build a strong and productive society by strengthening the role of the family and carrying out its responsibilities; and to provide education capable of building children’s personalities, and establishing a strong social and health system.
The Government of the Kingdom seeks to upgrade Saudi society through modern technology, whereby His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud has launched the NEOM “Smart Village” project. The project is located in the far northwest of the Kingdom in the Emirate of Tabuk, Duba Governorate, and extends 460 km on the Red Sea coast. The project aims within the framework of the ambitious aspirations of Vision 2030, to transform the Kingdom into a leading global cultural model of various aspects of life, by focusing on attracting value chain industries and technology within the project. The first phase of NEOM will be completed by 2025. The project is supported by The Saudi Public Investment Fund worth USD500 billion. It is accepting local and international investors.
The Kingdom under the NEOM is not limited to science and technology. It is likewise heading towards the field of environmental protection. His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced the “Green Saudi Initiative,” which charts the Kingdom’s direction in protecting the land and nature and puts it under a roadmap with clear and ambitious milestones. The aims are to increase the level of vegetation cover; reduce carbon emissions; combat pollution and land degradation, and preserve marine life. The initiative seeks to plant 10-billion trees inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, reduce carbon emissions by more than 4% of the global contributions, as well as develop a plan for renewable energy projects that will raise the share of clean energy in the Kingdom, increasing it by 50% by 2030 from the current 0.3%.
The “Green Middle East” initiative of the Kingdom also aims to coordinate efforts and keep pace with regional and international developments and contribute significantly to the global goals of confronting climate change. This initiative includes enhancing the efficiency of hydrocarbon technologies in the region by launching the largest reforestation plan in the world, with 50-billion trees planted in the Middle East, to achieve a 2.5% reduction in global carbon rates in the region and a 10% reduction in carbon emission of the global contributions.
The Kingdom has contributed aids to friendly and brotherly countries through the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action amounting to more than USD58.7 billion. It has supported the friendly Republic of the Philippines with around USD46.315 million through 42 projects in food, relief, humanitarian aid, and scholarships. Part of this is the notable USD20 million to support the Road Development in Mindanao project.
The Kingdom also successfully blazed, together with other Gulf countries, the implementation of a new contractual system that removes the sponsorship system. The sponsorship system, as we know it, has faced criticisms from human rights groups and economists. The Saudi employers’ organization has come with the initiative to improve the contractual relationship between them and their foreign workers, approved by the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development. The aim is to build an attractive labor market and to develop an investment environment. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has launched the initiative aimed at “improving the contractual relationship” in the private sector. This new initiative is flexible compared to the sponsorship system, as the reference in the labor-employer relationship is through a documented work contract signed by them, which contributes to reducing the discrepancy in contractual procedures. For Saudi-based worker, in exchange for his expatriate counterpart, where the worker has the freedom to move from one job to another without the consent of the employer, and the freedom to travel outside Saudi Arabia by notifying the employer electronically, and the foreign worker has the right to leave the country permanently without the consent of the employer, and the worker has the right to move from one job to another during the validity of his contract on the terms of his commitment to his contractual duties.
The President of the Republic of the Philippines, His Excellency Rodrigo Roa Duterte, praised the new system after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman assured the President that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is fully determined to play its role in protecting and supporting the rights of Filipino workers in the Kingdom. President Duterte acknowledged the efforts of the Kingdom in ensuring the protection and support of the rights, welfare, and well-being of the Filipinos in the Kingdom, including efforts to reform the labor system. The monthly remittances of the Filipino community in the Kingdom to the Philippines have always been in the top three globally, reaching in the last two years more than USD2.644 billion.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Kingdom has pledged to provide USD500 million in financial support to cover the funding gap of the World Health Organization’s USD8 billion Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. The pledge was announced in the wake of the extraordinary summit of G-20 held on March 26, 2020, called and chaired by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The Kingdom also pledged to mobilize international efforts to combat the Coronavirus pandemic and contribute to the international initiative to accelerate the availability of coronavirus vaccines through the COVAX facility. The Kingdom allocated USD150 million to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization to make it available to all countries in an equitable manner. In addition, it supported the United Nations response plan to combat the coronavirus pandemic and several projects supported by various United Nations organizations and agencies. The Kingdom seeks to crown it as one of the first countries in the world to care about human rights at the international level.
Internally, the Kingdom vaccinated the residents against the coronavirus and provided all medical supplies free. More than 800,000 Filipino nationals in the Kingdom were vaccinated free with the best types of vaccines available worldwide. The Ministry of Health in the Kingdom immunized all residents—citizens and residents regardless of their nationalities, even if they are in violation of the residency regulations and work without any legal consequences. His Excellency President Rodrigo Duterte expressed his appreciation for the free vaccination provided by the Kingdom to the Filipinos against the COVID-19.
The Saudi woman was and still is the master of ambitious women, especially during the era of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his Crown Prince, Prince Muhammad bin Salman, who has a global vision, the motivator of youth and the advocate and strength of women, who had a large share of Saudi women’s decisions and concerns, and with him our opinion Creativity follows innovations and achievements that have achieved the highest levels at the local and global levels. The World Bank Group issued its report on February 23, 2021 entitled “Women: Business Activities and the Law 2021,” in which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia made progress for the second year in a row among the indicators of excellence in the systems between both genders are involved in the fields of economic development and entrepreneurship around the world, which is a direct reflection of the Kingdom’s efforts in the areas of developing laws and regulations related to women’s participation in economic development.
Finally, I wish the friendly Republic of the Philippines and it’s people more success, prosperity, and progress under the leadership of His Excellency President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.