Saudi deputy crown prince to meet Trump,
investment in focus
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[March 13, 2017]
RIYADH (Reuters) - Deputy Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in charge of Saudi Arabia's reforms, left on
Monday for Washington to meet President Donald Trump on a visit expected
to promote the world's top oil exporter as an investment destination.
It will be the first meeting since Trump took office in January between
the U.S. President and the powerful prince leading the kingdom's efforts
to revive state finances by diversifying away from falling crude oil
revenues.
Under the plan, which seeks to promote the private sector and make
state-owned companies more efficient, Riyadh plans to sell up to 5
percent of state oil giant Saudi Aramco in what is expected to be the
world's biggest initial public offering.
Facing a growing budget deficit after recent falls in oil prices, the
kingdom also announced an austerity drive to reduce state spending,
although industry sources say it has also promised major development
projects later this year to soften the economic impact of those cuts.
A royal court statement said that in his talks with Trump and other U.S.
officials, Prince Mohammed, who heads a supercommittee driving economic
reform and is also Saudi defense minister, was expected to "discuss
reinforcing bilateral relations and review regional issues of mutual
interest".
It said that the working visit would start on Thursday but gave no
further details.
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John Sfakianakis, director of economic research a the Gulf Research
Center, said the focus of the visit would be "to showcase Saudi
investment opportunities... the Saudi Aramco IPO as well as the reforms
undertaken in the wider economic space."
The trip takes place less than a year after the prince, son of Saudi
King Salman bin Abdulaziz and the second in line to the throne, visited
Silicon Valley to sell his vision of market-oriented reforms and a
transformation of the kingdom's society.
By freeing the kingdom from the statist model of its past, he hopes
ultimately to create new private sector jobs for younger people in a
country where half the population of 21 million Saudis -- there are also
10 million expatriates -- are estimated to be under 25.
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![](../images/031317pics/news_n21.jpg)
Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends a graduation
ceremony and air show marking the 50th anniversary of the founding
of King Faisal Air College in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 25,
2017. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser
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Younger Saudis face entrenched unemployment, a skills shortage, a
lack of housing and growing pressure on living standards as the
kingdom's oil income grows ever less able to finance the needs of a
rising population.
King Salman is currently in Japan on a month-long Asia tour to build
ties with the world's fastest growing importers of Saudi crude and
promote investment opportunities, including the sale of a stake in
its giant state firm Saudi Aramco.
Trump spoke by telephone with Salman soon after he took office in
January and agreed to support safe zones in Syria, according to a
White House statement.
Salman invited Trump "to lead a Middle East effort to defeat
terrorism and to help build a new future, economically and
socially," for Saudi Arabia and the region, Saudi media reported.
Before his departure for the United States, Prince Mohammed met
Citigroup’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Corbat in Riyadh on
Sunday to discuss investment opportunities in the kingdom and
globally, SPA reported.
(Reporting by Mohamed El Sharif, Marwa Rashad and Katie Paul in
Riyadh, Writing by Sami Aboudi and William Maclean, Editing by
Dominic Evans)
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