https://arab.news/r5vh2
When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives in the US this week, the two countries are expected to discuss a range of topics — from artificial intelligence and civilian nuclear power to trade and defense. This meeting will, in all likelihood, open a new and even more productive chapter in 90 years of close US-Saudi cooperation.
However, another story has been quietly unfolding in the background for almost as long — one that will not capture as many headlines, yet is no less consequential to the future of Saudi Arabia: the deepening of private sector partnerships that have been driving economic transformation across the region for decades.
Bechtel, America’s largest engineering and construction firm, has maintained a partnership with the Kingdom that began in the mid-1940s when my great-grandfather, Steve Bechtel, met King Faisal, who was a prince at the time and had been appointed foreign minister by his father, King Abdulaziz. Instantly, my great-grandfather was drawn to King Abdulaziz’s vision to turn his country into a prosperous industrial hub.
What began as a single conversation turned into an 80-year collaboration spanning 300 projects that helped to build modern Saudi Arabia — from refineries and pipelines to state-of-the-art airports, rail systems, and even the industrial city of Jubail. Our partnership has lasted through technological change, global upheaval, and 14 US presidents. And it is still going strong.
