Riyadh - Zeinab Ali
After half a century, the partnership between Saudi Arabia and the World Bank is entering a new stage, as the relationship evolves from traditional advisory support to a global platform for knowledge transfer. Saudi Arabia’s position as one of the most trusted partners in global development is being reinforced, with its reform and transformation experiences becoming models that both developing and developed countries look to.
The relationship recently reached a new milestone with the opening of a new regional World Bank office in Riyadh, serving the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. This reflects the shift from an advisory role to a global platform for sharing knowledge and expertise. In parallel, a partnership was announced to establish a “Global Knowledge Hub” (K-Hub) in Riyadh, aimed at facilitating the exchange of ideas, experiences, and best practices to address development challenges.
Since signing the technical cooperation agreement between Saudi Arabia and the World Bank in 1974, Riyadh has served as an important center for advisory programs and technical assistance, supporting major reforms in economic sectors, infrastructure, and social development.
Over the decades, Saudi Arabia has continued to strengthen its position as a key partner by contributing financially to development funds, most recently pledging $700 million in December 2021 to the 20th replenishment of the International Development Association, in addition to $400 million in the previous cycle. These contributions underscore the Kingdom’s global commitment to combating poverty and promoting shared prosperity.
A New Dimension
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Axel van Trotsenburg, the Senior Managing Director at the World Bank, stressed the importance of the partnership between the World Bank and Saudi Arabia, saying the Kingdom doesn’t need financial support, but it is a major knowledge partner.
He added that over the past fifty years, the Saudi government has seen the Bank’s advice as a valuable contribution to development. He noted that over this period, the relationship has gone beyond mere consultation, extending into mutual trust and close cooperation, from which the World Bank itself has also benefited by learning from the Kingdom’s unique experiences.
His remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat took place during his recent official visit to Riyadh, where van Trotsenburg met with Saudi officials and development partners to discuss expanding knowledge exchange and deepening technical cooperation in key sectors, including the labor market, education, energy, infrastructure, digital development, and business climate, supporting Saudi Arabia’s medium- and long-term development strategies.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The most important partnership is if Saudi Arabia felt that we provided good, relevant advice," stressing that the next stage of cooperation will not only be through advice but in how the Saudi experience "can be shared more broadly, regionally, globally."
He described the upcoming Global Knowledge Hub in Riyadh as a platform for this new phase, enabling exchange of experiences between Saudi Arabia and other countries, both regionally and globally.
Van Trotsenburg highlighted Saudi Arabia’s global leadership in certain areas, citing his visit to Seha Hospital, “the largest virtual hospital in the world,” and the National Competitiveness Center, which allows citizens to open a company online within minutes.
"These are actually very good examples where actually the world can learn. I would say not only developing countries, I would even say that may actually be also relevant for OECD. And I think that is the next exciting chapter where we'll work together not only in advisory role, but also together in how we can actually share these type of experiences with a much broader audience in developing countries, lower and middle income countries," he noted.
Labor Market Concerns
Van Trotsenburg expressed concern over global labor market developments, noting that the world is not creating enough jobs for young people.
"This is a concern that the World bank has that the world is not creating enough jobs for young people. We've estimated that about 1.2 billion young people will enter the labor market over the next 10 years. Yet maybe only 400, a bit over 400 million young people will likely find a job. So there is a large gap and we need to close that gap."
The official added: “We need to put jobs and job creation at the center of our economic discussions, intervening not only through regulatory measures but also by enabling investments in education, skills development, and basic infrastructure," stressing that most importantly was the need to encourage the private sector to invest more and hire more, because it is the private sector that will create most of the jobs.
Van Trotsenburg said these are the areas where the World Bank will work, affirming that "we cannot do this alone" and it must be in partnership with governments and the private sector, highlighting the importance considering trends in digital technology and AI.
He emphasized the important lessons from Saudi Arabia: “Over the past years, female labor participation has increased significantly, which is important for many countries. Small and medium-sized enterprises have been very dynamic and growing quickly. These are important lessons for other countries because most jobs are created in SMEs. Of course, each country has different circumstances, but it is important to identify successful experiences and also learn from less successful ones. This is precisely the role the Knowledge Hub will play, and we would like active participation from our Saudi friends to share their experiences with the rest of the world.”
On multilateral cooperation, he said: “What I would like to add is that in a world of increasing tensions and where often multilateralism is being questioned, it's very important that we give new life to multilateral cooperation."
He said the World Bank welcomes international cooperation, such as the one shared with Saudi Arabia, "to work closely together on many different areas in the economic realm, in the social realm, and also in technical realms, like in water or in infrastructure."
According to Van Trotsenburg, this requires an open mindset, "a mindset that we together, as a world community, can only solve problems jointly. Too many problems are no longer solvable just in a strictly national environment, but will require international cooperation."
"The World bank is, I think, a great place to collaborate in this context," he said.
"We always welcome proactive initiatives, such as those by the Saudi government, to deepen this relationship rather than close it," Van Trotsenburg added.
