Saudi Arabia tells UN forum that development hinges on decisive choices, not favorable circumstances
NEW YORK CITY: Saudi Arabia’s development trajectory over the past decade proves that national progress is shaped less by external conditions and more by the willingness of states to make hard, strategic decisions in the face of those conditions, the Kingdom’s minister of economy and planning, Faisal Alibrahim, told the UN’s High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
Addressing the forum as Saudi Arabia presented its third Voluntary National Review, Alibrahim placed international turbulence in a historical context, arguing that economic and political fluctuations, cross-border crises and rising uncertainty were not unique to the present moment.
“Development was never a journey that is free of challenges, but a journey that comes among crises and challenges,” he said, and this premise leads to broader conclusions about what determines whether or not nations succeed.
“The future of countries is not based on circumstances but based on the decisions that it takes or does not take to deal with these circumstances,” he added.
