Peter Robertson, Vice Chairman of Chevron and Co-Chairman of the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council, 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 introduced 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 Robertson’s portion starts at Time: 00:04:20.

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:

Mr. Peter Robertson
Vice Chairman of Chevron; Co-Chairman, U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council

Peter Robertson is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for Chevron Corporation. Since becoming Vice Chairman, he has had a wide variety of responsibilities including direction of the company’s worldwide exploration, production and global gas businesses; corporate strategic planning; policy, government and public affairs; corporate human resources; security; and compliance. He collaborates closely with the chairman in overseeing the strategies and operations of the company. Robertson is a director of the United Way of the Bay Area, the U.S.-Russia Business Council, Resources for the Future, and the American Petroleum Institute. He is past chairman of the U.S. Energy Administration, co-chairman of the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council, vice chairman of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation, vice chairman of the board for the International House Berkeley, and serves on the Corporate Advisory Board of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. He also is past director of Sasol Chevron Holding Ltd., Dynergy Inc. and Caltex Petroleum Corp.