The magnitude of changes that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had passed through during the past five years was enormous. Saudi Arabia, with its leadership and people, crossed several phases and is moving rapidly towards comprehensive development that had been long-awaited since several decades, as Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman articulated: “The Kingdom is not prepared to waste any more time...”

The changes encompassed all areas, and perhaps the most important of which is the participation of Saudi citizens in the National Project represented by the Vision 2030.

This necessitated a return to the tolerant and moderate religion that the Kingdom has been known for centuries. The Kingdom, through its people and elites, stood firmly in confronting extremist and radical ideas that tried to impose themselves on the Saudi society. The Kingdom has restored its identity by preserving the creed that represents the spirit of the nation and openness to development and modernization.

There is no contradiction in this respect except what was attempted to create by some extremists who are roundly rejected by the Saudi society. The Kingdom has won the battle of awareness against these deviant groups and this paved the way for the Kingdom to embrace requirements of the present era and embark on swift adoption of the means of modern technology. It is expected that the Kingdom would become the technical and scientific hub of the entire Middle East region.

The most important aspect that the Saudi citizen can see is the state’s transformation from a rentier model that resulted from the oil boom to a vibrant production and development model heralded by the Vision 2030. Here, Riyadh began to turn into not only the capital of Arab political decision-making, but also into a scientific, economic and service hub of the region.

In the meantime, multinational companies are preparing to move to the Kingdom’s capital and make it the headquarters of their activities. Similarly, the Kingdom is rapidly transforming to become the largest media hub in the entire Middle East as the world’s largest media houses intend to open their headquarters or branches in the Kingdom.

Even though the major developments in the history of nations and states are measured in terms of decades and centuries, the developments that the Kingdom has been witnessing are measured within a span of days and weeks. All of these have made the Kingdom qualified to play a pivotal role in the Middle East region and made the parties that tried to marginalize its role convinced that the Kingdom is a great force to reckon with. Hence, we are witnessing a different discourse expressed by Erdogan’s Turkey and its attempt to court the Kingdom. Turkey is still trying to build trust with Riyadh, but it needs a lot to do, while considering the great rift caused by its previous foolish policies.

Moreover, the Iranian regime complied, at least in form, to the requirements of reason and logic by opening a dialogue with the Kingdom in the Iraqi capital, despite the existence of all the potential difficulties involved in such a dialogue. We hope that these regional powers will soon return to their senses.

The option of building good-neighborly relations and not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries is much less costly than creating a state of instability in the region as well as interfering in the internal affairs of countries in the region and supporting terrorism.

In the beginning of the New Year, the Kingdom is determined to defend its interests and national security, and it will not tolerate any move to undermine the Arab national security. This position of Saudi Arabia is largely evident on the issue of Yemen. At the same time, the Kingdom is forced to deviate from the path of peace when the terrorist Houthi militia resorted to act in a way undermining the stability of the region and thus causing destruction and devastation for the entire region.

Saudi Arabia’s outlook toward the Middle East issues continues to remain firm and proved to be sound. The Kingdom believes that embracing Iraq into the Arab fold and the non-interference of regional parties in that country’s internal affairs is enough to put it on the path of stability. This is what the Kingdom tried to do during the past year, which is part of the Kingdom’s strategy in its regional policy.

The Kingdom is keen on confronting terrorism and maintaining its security, and this is the core of its policy on Lebanon. Hence it stands by the Lebanese people in confronting the terrorist Hezbollah militia and following up Hezbollah’s criminal activities, the most important of which is targeting the region with drugs.

The Kingdom’s policy of further cementing security cooperation with other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states has proven its feasibility and effectiveness during the past year. In Syria, Libya and other Arab countries, the Kingdom continues to show its bias towards the Arab peoples and their interests. And this is also reflected in the firm position on the Palestinian issue and the adoption of the Arab Peace Initiative launched by the late King Abdullah. Despite all the skepticism, the Kingdom has proven that it is the party that preserves its principles without bidding and it will continue to do so.

The Kingdom enters the New Year, armed with the determination and firmness that are distinctive qualities of its leaders. The Saudi people are vibrantly moving forward to a promising future with putting more confidence and faith in the Saudi citizen.