While many nations in the Middle East region have offered their own ambitious grand strategy frameworks such as the UAE, Kuwait, and Egypt, it is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s “Saudi Vision 2030” that has proven to be the most pervasive. Saudi Vision 2030, primarily a pivot from the oil-rich Kingdom away from an economy dependent on oil and gas, aims to position the nation as a political and cultural epicenter for Africa and Eurasia. 


Home to Mecca and possessing a public wealth fund of approximately $776 billion, Saudi Arabia’s strategy includes sweeping civil reforms and gambles on regional relations that could signal to the rest of the world KSA’s ability to be a middle power and reliable Middle Eastern hegemon. This included robust overtures with Israel towards normalized relations which instigated and was subsequently stifled by the recent attack by Hamas that triggered the ongoing Israel-Hamas War. 


As a result, the entire region’s priorities have shifted towards pursuing a resolution to the fighting, as seen during this year’s Future Investment Initiative conference. The self-proclaimed “Davos in the Desert” saw several business and finance leaders from the West warning KSA that any business reforms and progress plans are naively optimistic.