UKTI Saudi Arabia Construction and Education mission: 21-26 January 2011
07 February 2011
UKTI Saudi Arabia Construction and Education mission: 21-26 January 2011
Mission blog
It is an interesting time to be looking at business in the Middle East, especially for a keen follower of the region’s history and politics such as myself. The current events in Egypt (where I misspent 2 years as a student) and Tunisia are extraordinary when set against the traditionally moribund politics of the region. Although all of us have been taken by surprise by the speed of developments, many did forecast something like this given the huge population boom coupled with serious unemployment, poverty and lack of political freedoms. My own view is that the advent of Twitter and Facebook has also been a key enabler (British Expertise are now using the former), even if the technology is only in the hands of a small proportion of the population. We will continue to watch with fascination as events unfold.
Back in Saudi Arabia last week, I was struck by how seriously the events in Tunisia were being taken there (Egypt had not at the time really hit the headlines). The problems are the same across the region, and in Saudi they are as challenging as anywhere else. The statistics are scary with over 70% of the population of 28 million under 30, and a birth rate increase of nearly 3% a year. The Saudi government has recognised this and is fortunately in a strong position to throw resources at the problem - a staggering 26% of expenditure in December’s record budget are dedicated to Education and Training (Healthcare comes second with 14%) – a turnaround from previous decades when Defence has trumped all.
Good timing then to be heading to the Kingdom with a mixed group of 15 companies representing the best in UK construction and education. This mission was the most logistically ambitious I have done so far, with visits to Riyadh, Jeddah, al-Khobar (and Bahrain) in one week. Such a programme involves a certain amount of finger crossing that flights will be on time, and also to get a reasonable balance between organised group events and opportunities for delegates to follow up contacts. All in all it worked pretty well with only a few hairy moments.
Highlights included a visit to Queen Effat University in Jeddah, the first women’s university in Saudi Arabia, and the best ever attended reception in Jeddah (145 guests!). In Riyadh a meeting with the Ministry of Education was followed by useful meetings with el-Seif Group and Dar al-Riyadh consultants.
It was my first visit to al-Khobar and the Eastern Province and my prior image of it being a grim industrial wasteland was very wide of the mark. There is clearly a lot of wealth here with some attractive buildings, and we visited 2 thriving universities (the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and Damman University) with cosmopolitan and diverse groups of students. The reception was notable for the quality of the attendees.
The Bahrain leg was somewhat of a British Expertise inspired afterthought given that about half of the group were passing through Bahrain on the way home via Gulf Air flights. We had some hours to kill and did not fancy sitting in a mall watching the rain (yes it really did!). We were greatly assisted by the UKTI team in Bahrain in arranging short-notice meetings with the Ministry of Education, the Education Team at the Economic Development Board and some drinks with the British Business Group. It is easy to overlook Bahrain as a small market but the reality is that a lot of educational reform and development will take place over the next few years resulting in good niche opportunities there.
One tricky area was the current difficulty in getting Saudi visas for UK nationals based in the Gulf which seems to have arisen recently. Visas in general remain problematic – we lost 2 companies from Dubai who were not able to get them and hopefully this will improve for next time. But in general it was an excellent visit and as always it was a pleasure to work with the capable and experienced UKTI teams in Saudi Arabia, and the Bahrain leg worked really well.
At a time of significant change in the Middle East Saudi Arabia remains a lynchpin and a UK strategic priority for the region, as much as Egypt is. It is encouraging to see the Saudi Government focus on Education as its key priority and no doubt this will result in significant opportunities for the UK as well as better opportunities for the Saudi population. Watching what is happening in Egypt, there is suddenly a renewed urgency.
Dominic James
31 January 2011
It is an interesting time to be looking at business in the Middle East, especially for a keen follower of the region’s history and politics such as myself. The current events in Egypt (where I misspent 2 years as a student) and Tunisia are extraordinary when set against the traditionally moribund politics of the region. Although all of us have been taken by surprise by the speed of developments, many did forecast something like this given the huge population boom coupled with serious unemployment, poverty and lack of political freedoms. My own view is that the advent of Twitter and Facebook has also been a key enabler (British Expertise are now using the former), even if the technology is only in the hands of a small proportion of the population. We will continue to watch with fascination as events unfold.
Back in Saudi Arabia last week, I was struck by how seriously the events in Tunisia were being taken there (Egypt had not at the time really hit the headlines). The problems are the same across the region, and in Saudi they are as challenging as anywhere else. The statistics are scary with over 70% of the population of 28 million under 30, and a birth rate increase of nearly 3% a year. The Saudi government has recognised this and is fortunately in a strong position to throw resources at the problem - a staggering 26% of expenditure in December’s record budget are dedicated to Education and Training (Healthcare comes second with 14%) – a turnaround from previous decades when Defence has trumped all.
Good timing then to be heading to the Kingdom with a mixed group of 15 companies representing the best in UK construction and education. This mission was the most logistically ambitious I have done so far, with visits to Riyadh, Jeddah, al-Khobar (and Bahrain) in one week. Such a programme involves a certain amount of finger crossing that flights will be on time, and also to get a reasonable balance between organised group events and opportunities for delegates to follow up contacts. All in all it worked pretty well with only a few hairy moments.
Highlights included a visit to Queen Effat University in Jeddah, the first women’s university in Saudi Arabia, and the best ever attended reception in Jeddah (145 guests!). In Riyadh a meeting with the Ministry of Education was followed by useful meetings with el-Seif Group and Dar al-Riyadh consultants.
It was my first visit to al-Khobar and the Eastern Province and my prior image of it being a grim industrial wasteland was very wide of the mark. There is clearly a lot of wealth here with some attractive buildings, and we visited 2 thriving universities (the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and Damman University) with cosmopolitan and diverse groups of students. The reception was notable for the quality of the attendees.
The Bahrain leg was somewhat of a British Expertise inspired afterthought given that about half of the group were passing through Bahrain on the way home via Gulf Air flights. We had some hours to kill and did not fancy sitting in a mall watching the rain (yes it really did!). We were greatly assisted by the UKTI team in Bahrain in arranging short-notice meetings with the Ministry of Education, the Education Team at the Economic Development Board and some drinks with the British Business Group. It is easy to overlook Bahrain as a small market but the reality is that a lot of educational reform and development will take place over the next few years resulting in good niche opportunities there.
One tricky area was the current difficulty in getting Saudi visas for UK nationals based in the Gulf which seems to have arisen recently. Visas in general remain problematic – we lost 2 companies from Dubai who were not able to get them and hopefully this will improve for next time. But in general it was an excellent visit and as always it was a pleasure to work with the capable and experienced UKTI teams in Saudi Arabia, and the Bahrain leg worked really well.
At a time of significant change in the Middle East Saudi Arabia remains a lynchpin and a UK strategic priority for the region, as much as Egypt is. It is encouraging to see the Saudi Government focus on Education as its key priority and no doubt this will result in significant opportunities for the UK as well as better opportunities for the Saudi population. Watching what is happening in Egypt, there is suddenly a renewed urgency.
Dominic James
31 January 2011