By Fahad Nazer, Official Spokesperson, Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia entered a new era on February 14, 1945, when King Abdulaziz Al-Saud met President Franklin Delano Roosevelt aboard the USS Quincy. In the 76 years since, relations between our two nations have continued to deepen and to broaden. Indeed, our partnership is rich and multilayered. It has political, security, cultural, and importantly, economic dimensions that have served the interests of both nations and our peoples. Strong bilateral ties between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have helped advance stability across the Middle East and have led to decades of economic strength for both Saudis and Americans.
Saudi Arabia’s economic relationship with the U.S. is a critical component of this partnership. The U.S. is one of Saudi Arabia’s largest and most important trading partners. In 2019, there was over $17 billion in trade between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. While much of the attention on trade has focused on the critical role that Saudi Arabia plays as the world’s biggest exporter of crude oil, the economic partnership between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia has steadily diversified over the years. Today, our economic relationship includes cooperation across high-tech sectors, Artificial Intelligence (AI), sustainable development and green technologies, and even tourism and entertainment that bring our two countries closer together. This economic diversification will further strengthen the relationship and will undoubtedly provide opportunities for companies in both Saudi Arabia and the U.S., including in Wisconsin.
This rapid economic diversification is a key pillar of the historic transformation currently underway in Saudi Arabia known as Vision 2030. Under the leadership of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, Vision 2030 was unveiled in 2016 to serve as a blueprint for developing Saudi Arabia’s potential and achieving our ambitions for the 21st century. While Vision 2030 has impacted all facets of Saudi life, it seeks to develop a thriving economy for the Kingdom through innovation, diversification, and utilizing the Kingdom’s youth power to create a sustainable economy for the future.
For Wisconsin companies, Vision 2030 is an opportunity for generating continued growth and developing new partnerships. Saudi Arabia and Wisconsin companies have already established strong ties. For example, Fincantieri Marinette Marine currently has a multi-billion-dollar contract to build four ships for the Saudi Navy, the Oshkosh Corporation has a joint venture with a Saudi company called Al Tadrea, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Wisconsin in 2020 exported $234,237,738 worth of commodities to Saudi Arabia and imported $1,641,938 of commodities that same year. Both of our countries benefit from these business relationships.
Additional opportunities and expanding the existing trade relationship between Wisconsin and Saudi Arabia are essential to the future of the U.S.-Saudi partnership. Our bond with the U.S. is strengthened and improved when every region and state in America is included and prospers because of the partnership. I would encourage Wisconsin business leaders to consider Saudi Arabia as not just a new market for expansion but as a long-term economic partner that can become an important ally for The Badger State, through collaboration, investment, and trade.
Finally, while I hope that my description of the historic transformation occurring in Saudi Arabia is informative, there is no substitute to visiting the Kingdom. I would invite all the newsletter’s readers, all those interested in learning more about Saudi Arabia, our people, and the significant investment and economic opportunities in the Kingdom, to come visit us and to see this exciting transformation for themselves.
For more information, please contact Info.was@mofa.gov.sa.
