Challenges facing the Saudi Arabian administration in advancing the Vision 2030 Plan
King Abdulaziz gave the green light in 2015 to a major reform plan for Saudi Arabia, with the aim of modernizing the kingdom's political, economic and social structures by 2030. Although it is not the first document of its kind to be developed for the country, its content is the most ambitious. The time to meet the demands is passing and the Saudi administration must function differently to move the reforms forward, according to Mohammed A. Alsuwayed, one of the experts who worked at the Ministry of Transport and participated in the development of the Vision 2030 plan. He is also the author of a report highlighting the difficulties that officials and authorities still face in implementing the transformations.
On Monday, Alsuwayed participated in a virtual conference organized by the think tank Euro-Gulf Information Center to explain the ongoing reforms that the administration still has before it. "We have not yet managed to make public budgets less dependent on oil," said the expert, who also spoke of the need to push ahead with tax reforms. The drop in oil prices during the coronavirus pandemic, due to the ban on international flights and containment, forced the country to adjust this year's budget and introduce a new tax on the value of products.
The central government still retains some administrative powers, and Alsuwayed has indicated that further decentralisation to new local governments is needed. "The clearest example of how this policy works is in the United Arab Emirates. Its local officials have many competencies and complement the actions of national institutions," he said.
Although the main concern of this specialist is the functioning of public institutions. "The boundaries between the legislature and the executive are still not clear. We need to strengthen the separation between the two areas and start later on with decentralisation," explained Mr Alsuwayed, who was very optimistic about the reforms that began in 2015. "We need to continue on this path.
Alsuwayed also compared the way other countries are organised: The United States has an administration in which there is a great separation between the legislative and executive powers, but in other nations such as Ireland or Australia these boundaries are not as clear. Another problem that this expert highlighted is the weight of the heads of departments. "If you leave your post, you lose all the developments that have been made under your command," he said.
In order to streamline and accelerate the implementation of Vision 2030, Alsuwayed's paper proposes the creation of a Legislative Council of Ministers that will be responsible for setting the overall direction and an Executive Council of Ministers that will be responsible for developing what the legislature has decided. A third level, composed of the ministries, should be responsible for implementing the plans on an annual basis.
