Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s sweeping effort to modernise Saudi Arabia’s economy draws direct inspiration from the Singapore model pioneered by Lee Kuan Yew, a senior Saudi political adviser has said.
Mohammed Khalid Alyahya, an adviser to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, described the late Singaporean leader’s pragmatic and results-driven governance as a template for Riyadh’s ambitions.
“We have studied [Singapore] for 50 years – the way the country has invested in education, housing and skills, and how it climbs the technology ladder decade after decade,” Alyahya told an audience on Monday at the S R Nathan Distinguished Lecture hosted by the Middle East Institute, an autonomous research organisation within the National University of Singapore.
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“If Singapore turns swamps into smart cities, Saudi Arabia is forging the future with equal or greater ambition at continental speed and scale. The parallels run deeper, rooted in the resolve of leaders to reject ideology in favour of results.”
Alyahya, who was formerly a senior resident fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Centre, said the kingdom had been echoing Singapore’s transformation with “uncanny precision” under Vision 2030. The US$1.25 trillion programme, launched by Salman in 2016, aims to grow and diversify the Saudi economy into a global, modern powerhouse.
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