Saudi youth want to achieve ambitions ‘now’: Al-Jubeir Allowing young people to realize their dreams can solve the Middle East’s problems, Saudi foreign minister tells Davos forum
DAVOS: Empowering young people can end the scourges of sectarianism and extremism in the Middle East, Saudi foreign minister told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
He said: “Youth have hopes, they have dreams, they have ambitions — and they want it now.”
“The solution is to make government more accountable … providing opportunities for our youth, so they can realize their hopes, dreams and ambitions,” he said.
“You do that by opening up your society, by opening up areas for domestic and foreign investment, streamlining accreditation, making it simpler to operate and start companies.”
Al-Jubeir described the two “competing visions” for the future of the Middle East — one characterized by light, the other by darkness.
“The vision of darkness is sectarianism, it’s trying to restore an empire that was destroyed thousands of years ago, it’s using sectarianism and terrorism in order to interfere in the affairs of other countries so that you can promote this revolution and this imperialistic expansion,” Al-Jubeir said.
“That’s the dark vision … it’s called Iran.”
Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s minister of defense, said her country also sees “a lot of problems” with Iran. “We share many, many worries about Iran, without any question,” she said.
But von der Leyen said the 2015 agreement that limits Iran’s nuclear program was important in tackling such worries. “The Iran deal encapsulates the core problem, and therefore we think we should stick to the deal as long as Iran sticks to the deal too,” she said.
US President Donald Trump is expected to raise the need to address Iran’s mounting influence in the Middle East when he arrives in Davos this week. Trump will meet world leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Theresa May, and will deliver a speech on Friday.
During his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump will “reiterate America’s strong commitment to Israel and efforts to reduce Iran’s influence in the Middle East and ways to achieve lasting peace,” US national security adviser H.R. McMaster said.
Trump has been outspoken in his criticism of the Iranian regime, and tweeted his support for protesters during demonstrations across Iran in December and January.
The US president believes the nuclear agreement, the signature foreign policy of the Obama administration, has serious flaws, and has threatened to withdraw from the deal unless those flaws are fixed.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri was interviewed at Davos on Wednesday, where he spoke of US sanctions against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, which he said were not targeting the wider Lebanese economy.
“I am not worried,” he said. “The focus of the United States is Hezbollah, it’s not the Lebanese people or the Lebanese economy.”