Abdullah Alireza, Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was featured as a panelist at the May 2009 “U.S.-Saudi Relations in a World Without Equilibrium” symposium in Washington, organized by the Committee for International Trade, Council of Saudi Chambers (CIT) and the New America Foundation (NAF). He spoke on the opening panel titled “A Forward Projection of What the Saudi-US Relationship Should Look Like and Needs to Achieve.”
The presentation is a part of a video of the complete panel discussion and Alireza’s portion starts at Time: 00:50:04.
Conference organizer Steve Clemons of the Foundation described the significance of the symposium this way:
“..Because of cultural dissimilarities and almost a purposeful “remoteness” that has become institutionalized in the US-Saudi relationship, except when behind closed doors — or perhaps in the privacy of the oval office or big estates here or there, or in Riyadh — the US-Saudi relationship remains “overly exotic” — and is not acted out in public view to the degree it should be. ”The conference that follows below will hopefully become a starting point for a more regular, public exchange of views on the key strategic and economic challenges that face the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the broader Middle East and international system. ”Whether many Americans want to acknowledge it or not, the fact is that the US-Saudi relationship is vital to America’s geostrategic and geoeconomic interests today — and like all diplomatic frameworks between key geostrategic players, this relationship as seen from both the American and the Saudi sides has warts and shortcomings. Nonetheless, it is not healthy to allow a vital relationship to be perceived and discussed through only very narrow lenses. ”What we have coming up on at this event is pretty significant in my view, and I am grateful to officials in the Obama administration and in the Saudi Kingdom — as well as other private sector speakers — for supporting the kind of open encounter we are promoting in this meeting..”
Speaker Biography:
His Excellency Abdullah Alireza
Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza was appointed Minister of Commerce and Industry in March 2008. Previously, he served as Minister of State without portfolio. He is a member of the Supreme Economic Council, the Board of Trustees of King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for the Gifted, and has been co-chairman of the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce since 1999. During the last twenty years, Minister Alireza has been chairman of businesses and organizations, including the Saudi Services & Operating Company, Saudi Energy Services Company Limited, Saudi Trade & Export Development Company, and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce (JCCI). Minister Alireza works closely with academic institutions and non-profit organizations around the world in promoting education and cross cultural understanding. Minister Alireza obtained his B.A. in Political Science from Whittier College in California, and performed graduate work at Washington, D.C.’s American University and Georgetown University.
