WITH a conviction that the language of numbers is the most convincing one, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman was keen to showcase his achievements through the Vision 2030 to the Saudi people in a detailed and accurate way. He did this in a unique way that other governments in the world rarely do. The unprecedented achievements of Vision 2030 within four years reflect the personal and meticulous follow-up that the Crown Prince pays to its programs and his keenness to achieve its goals in line with the drawn up plans. The ambitions of Vision 2030 do not merely stop at addressing the problem of unemployment among Saudis, but rather go beyond that with the ultimate goal of improving the income level of citizens, which reflects the leadership's keenness to improve the standard of living among the middle and lower-income segments of the Saudi society. The housing crisis is no longer a dilemma and an apprehension for Saudis as it had been during the past two decades, either in terms of the waiting period or having the ownership of suitable housing. This was confirmed by an increase in the ownership rate among Saudis as it reached 60 percent. The government's move to diversify its sources of income was a realistic approach to tackle crises that could arise in the future, as was evident in the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices. The move provided a lifeline without which the economic situation would have headed toward a recession that could have caused the loss of jobs for millions of citizens. The reform of the Kingdom's sovereign fund that happened after a gap of many years, contributed to playing a major and strategic role. It proved to be one of the main engines of the growth of the Saudi economy, and its investments have doubled from SR560 billion to more than SR1.3 trillion in a period of just three years. The war on corruption and corrupt officials is not a battle of a day or two or a year or two. As the Crown Prince said, it is his personal war because it deprived the country and citizens of 15 percent of the state budget annually during the past three decades. The success of the Kingdom's efforts to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic came as a result of a forward-looking vision that foresaw the dangers for the country and the vulnerability of its economy due to fluctuations in the oil market. The assertion of the Crown Prince that the Kingdom would be one of the G20 countries least affected by the pandemic by the end of the year 2020 and one of the countries that would make the fastest return to growth, confirms his great confidence in the strength of the Saudi economy that underwent a series of structural reforms of late. In his famous speech in 2017, Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman announced the war on terrorism and extremism and he vowed to combat hate speech. He has been steadfast in his commitment ever since. He has been able to achieve what had remained unaddressed since the occurrence of the first terrorist attack in 1996. The Crown Prince has been able to lead security, intellectual and strategic efforts through restructuring the Ministry of Interior and reforming the security sector. As a result of these initiatives, he has been able to undermine an ideological scheme that had been nourished over the past 40 years. Prince Muhammad Bin Salman's call to the world to stop slandering religions and attacking religious and national symbols under the slogan of freedom of expression represents the voice of reason aimed at not fueling feelings of hatred that lead to unjustified violence, regardless of its motives and causes.
