The Saudi Ministry of Finance last week announced the Kingdom’s 2026 budget, outlining key economic and fiscal indicators, including the outlook for 2026 and the medium term, global economic trends, fiscal developments, and the main fiscal risks anticipated ahead.
The budget projects total revenues at SR1.147 trillion ($305.9 billion) and expenditures at SR1.313 trillion, resulting in a fiscal deficit of SR165 billion.
Despite this deficit, the government continues to put citizens, residents, and visitors at the center of its priorities, underscoring its commitment to welfare and the delivery of high-quality public services.
Importantly, the budget reiterates that ongoing reviews of spending priorities will not affect the quality of essential public services. 
The government remains firmly committed to protecting them, reflecting its recognition that quality of life enhancements are a core pillar of the national transformation journey.
This year’s budget also reinforces the government’s commitment to implementing major projects aligned with Saudi Vision 2030, with an emphasis on spending efficiency and balanced development across all sectors and all 13 regions of the Kingdom.
Supporting the private sector remains a central priority. The government aims to strengthen the sector’s role as a primary engine of economic growth by fostering a competitive, attractive business environment that draws high-quality investments. It also reaffirms its pledge to settle private-sector dues promptly to sustain the sector’s crucial role in the Kingdom’s economic transformation.
Enhancing fiscal sustainability while supporting sustainable economic growth stands at the heart of the 2026 budget. The government continues to align spending priorities to ensure resources are directed toward programs and projects with the greatest economic and social impact, reinforcing long-term financial stability.
Saudi Arabia continues to manage its financial resources with prudence and efficiency, maintaining strong fiscal performance to support sustainable growth and preserve fiscal stability. Balanced economic and fiscal policies remain central to driving structural transformation and realizing the goals of Vision 2030.
Despite a sluggish global economy weighed down by geopolitical tensions and trade barriers, Saudi Arabia has maintained a strong fiscal position and pressed ahead with its development agenda. This resilience stems from effective fiscal policies that ensure readiness for global economic fluctuations.
Throughout 2025, the Saudi economy demonstrated robustness in the face of global challenges. Key economic indicators showed positive performance, reaffirming the success of Vision 2030 in building an integrated and dynamic economic system.
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector PMI averaged 57.3 points from January to September 2025 — well above the neutral 50 threshold for more than four consecutive years — outperforming many global peers. This reflects proactive government policies aimed at empowering the private sector and creating a more competitive, investment-friendly environment.
Overall, despite lingering uncertainties in the global economy, the Kingdom continues to push forward with efforts to build a more sustainable economic model. These efforts rest on wide-ranging structural and fiscal reforms supported by strategic spending aligned with national priorities under Vision 2030, while maintaining spending efficiency and fiscal discipline.
Non-oil activities remain the key driver of economic growth. In 2024, they reached a record SR2.6 trillion — an annual increase of 5.2 percent — serving as the main engine of GDP expansion, with total GDP rising 2.8 percent during the same year.
From early 2025 through the third quarter, real GDP grew 4.1 percent compared to the previous year, driven entirely by non-oil activities, which expanded by 4.7 percent year-on-year, fueled by strong domestic demand, rising incomes, and higher employment.
Given the positive indicators throughout 2025, the Saudi economy is expected to maintain solid growth. Preliminary estimates point to real GDP growth of around 4.4 percent for 2025, supported by non-oil activities projected to expand by 5 percent amid continued momentum and broad-based economic expansion. Meanwhile, Saudi unemployment declined to 6.8 percent in Q2 2025 from 7.1 percent a year earlier, underscoring ongoing labor market improvements.

• Talat Zaki Hafiz is an economist and financial analyst. 

X: @TalatHafiz

In our conversations with healthcare leaders across the region, we consistently hear the same story expressed in different ways. 

A clinician trying to manage a complex diabetic patient only to discover their lab results are locked in another system. An insurer struggling to reconcile records to comply with government mandates, redirecting resources that could otherwise be devoted to patient care. A hospital CIO is frustrated that their AI pilot looks great in a demo but can’t move into day-to-day workflows because the data just isn’t there.

These are not failures of intent. On the contrary, the GCC is full of some of the most ambitious healthcare leaders we have ever met. The vision is bold. Investments are real. Programs like Malaffi, Nabidh, and NPHIES are proof that the region wants to leapfrog into a future of connected, intelligent healthcare.

And yet the day-to-day reality still reflects the need for improvement. Not because people do not want to change, but because the underlying digital foundation is not yet optimal to support that change.

What a digital foundation looks like

A true digital foundation is not glamorous. It does not make headlines the way AI or robotics do. But it is the difference between pilots that stall and systems that transform. It rests on three layers: 

• Data transformation layer. The GCC’s biggest challenge is its siloed systems. This layer integrates data across primary care centers, specialty hospitals, labs, pharmacies, and even SDoH sources. Whether it is a lab report, pharmacy record, or EMR note, this layer ensures that every health signal contributes to a single, unified patient record.
• Data integrity layer. Unifying data alone is not enough. The data must be trusted. This layer harmonizes and normalizes data using standards such as ICD-10, SNOMED, LOINC, and FHIR. It enforces GCC data localization laws (UAE Decree 45, Saudi PDPL) and provides traceability and consent controls.
• Intelligence activation layer. Once data is unified and governed, intelligence can be activated. APIs expose longitudinal patient records for use in workflows. Clinical decision support tools identify care gaps in real time. Patient 360 dashboards give physicians, care teams, and administrators a full view of each patient.

It helps improve coordination across public and private providers through real-time, data-driven referrals.

Unlike more fragmented geographies, Gulf nations can align national strategies, regulations, and investments. The Malaffi-Riayati integration in the UAE is a promising sign. Seha Virtual Hospital is a powerful prototype. And Vision 2030 places digital health at the heart of national growth.

But ambition must be anchored in infrastructure. PwC estimates that 30–40 percent of healthcare costs in the GCC are administrative, much of it caused by fragmented data. Even cutting that waste in half would free billions for frontline care and research.

Before AI, before analytics, before apps there must be trust in the data. And that trust can only come from a digital foundation strong enough to carry the weight of transformation.

The ambition across the GCC’s healthcare sector is clear, and the intent is shared by all involved — from policymakers to practitioners. The real challenge lies in building the right structures to support that vision. Once the foundation is in place, the Gulf won’t just catch up; it will leapfrog.

The future of healthcare in the GCC will be shaped not just by how quickly we adopt AI or launch apps, but by the strength of the digital bedrock we build to support them.

• Dr. Walid Abbas Zaher is a Saudi scientist and GCC advisory board member at Innovaccer.

• Akhter Hemayoun Mubarki is general manager at Innovaccer.
 

Saudi Arabia has entered the final phase of its Vision 2030 journey with unbelievable momentum. 

The Kingdom’s latest progress report outlines significant achievements across smart cities, e-government, digital health, and national infrastructure, all rooted in a broader ambition to build a sustainable and diversified economy.

With over $100 billion invested in AI and digital innovation, Saudi Arabia is not just participating in the global digital transformation; it is shaping it. These investments reflect the Kingdom’s steadfast commitment to becoming a global hub for advanced technologies and future-ready industries.

To date, 85 percent of Vision 2030 initiatives have been completed and are on the right track. Ninety-three percent  of performance indicators have either been achieved, exceeded, or are nearing their targets, with eight key goals reached six years ahead of schedule. This is not incremental change. It is truly remarkable accelerated progress that brings with it new demands for digital trust, resilience, and security.

The unseen infrastructure behind national progress

The more connected a nation becomes, the more it must rely on invisible layers of digital trust. As innovation advances through AI enabled services, cloud first platforms and autonomous infrastructure, the complexity of what must be secured grows.

These interdependencies create opportunity, but they also raise the stakes. A disruption to any critical system such as healthcare, a public utilities, or logistics can have cascading effects across sectors. This is why cybersecurity today is not just a matter of protection, but of national continuity and operational assurance.

In Saudi Arabia, the nation’s transformation has been supported by strong national cyber frameworks and risk governance models. Institutions like the National Cybersecurity Authority have played a central role in setting baseline standards, encouraging public and private sector collaboration, and promoting a unified approach to digital risk management. As digital adoption deepens, this strong foundation is enabling organizations across the Kingdom to embed cybersecurity into design, adopt intelligence-led strategies, and approach resilience as a shared responsibility across the entire ecosystem.

Meeting complexity with agility

With this accelerated innovation comes the complexity of securing it. The challenge today is not simply defending fixed assets, but safeguarding dynamic, adaptive digital environments. Threat actors are increasingly leveraging AI to automate attacks, compromise supply chains, and exploit new technologies faster than legacy systems can respond.

This demands a shift toward cybersecurity architectures that are intelligent, integrated, and continuously learning. 

From behavioral analytics to zero-trust models, the tools to meet these challenges exist, however they need to be implemented with speed, scale, and alignment across sectors. 

As noted in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 report on GCC cyber resilience, regional leadership in cybersecurity now hinges on sustained collaboration, cross-border intelligence sharing, and sector-specific threat modeling.

Saudi Arabia is helping lead that shift. In 2024, Saudi Arabia’s cybersecurity market reached SR13.3 billion ($3.55 billion), including SR2.8 billion in investments from critical infrastructure sectors. These figures reflect not only a response to risk, but a recognition that cybersecurity is fundamental to sustained economic growth.

At Trend Micro, we see this transition underway. We are working with public and private sector partners across the Kingdom to advance these capabilities by helping organizations adopt AI-powered threat detection, secure hybrid environments, and embed resilience into digital transformation from the ground up. From enhancing critical infrastructure protections to supporting secure AI innovation, our role is to help ensure that progress remains protected at every level.

Securing the vision

Saudi Arabia’s ability to maintain its leadership in digital innovation will rest not only on how fast it moves, but on how securely it builds. Cybersecurity is the thread that weaves continuity into transformation, ensuring that every new platform, every digital touchpoint, and every citizen service can be trusted at scale.

As Vision 2030 enters its final stretch, cybersecurity must remain integrated into the core of decision-making. From infrastructure investment and AI deployment to policymaking and ecosystem design. It is not a constraint on progress. Rather, it is the assurance that progress endures.

• Wasna Ben Gassem is Trend Micro’s managing director in Saudi Arabia.
 

When Saudi Arabia launched Vision 2030, it was more than an economic reform plan. It was a signal to the world that the Kingdom intended to transform itself into a hub of innovation, technology, and knowledge. 

At the heart of this transformation lies artificial intelligence, a force that is no longer confined to laboratories or tech giants but is rapidly shaping everyday life in the Kingdom. 

Vision 2030 recognized early that AI would be essential to building a diversified economy. By establishing the Saudi Data and AI Authority in 2019 and rolling out the National Strategy for Data and AI, the Kingdom set ambitious goals: to train tens of thousands of specialists, attract billions in investment, and position itself as a global leader in AI by 2030. 

This ambition is not theoretical. In May 2025, the Public Investment Fund launched Humain, a national company dedicated to developing AI infrastructure and advanced large language models. With a mission to create one of the world’s most powerful Arabic multimodal AI systems, Humain reflects a strategic bet: Saudi Arabia is not only adopting AI but shaping it to reflect its culture and language. 

The financial sector has been one of the fastest to embrace AI. Fintech startups and digital banks, supported by Vision 2030’s regulatory reforms, are using AI to detect fraud, assess creditworthiness, and personalize services. To support this transformation, Saudi Arabia has also invested in backbone infrastructure. 

Amazon Web Services and Humain announced a joint $5 billion investment to build AI zones and dedicated data centers in the Kingdom, ensuring financial institutions have the computing power and security they need. 

Saudi Arabia’s global reputation has long been tied to energy. Now, AI is helping to redefine what energy leadership looks like. Aramco and other energy leaders deploy AI systems that predict equipment failures before they happen, optimize drilling, and reduce emissions. At the same time, AI is central to the Kingdom’s renewable energy drive. Smart grids balance supply and demand more effectively, while solar farms adjust panel angles automatically to maximize output. 

By 2030, AI may no longer be seen as “technology of the future” but as an invisible enabler of daily life.

Hilda Maalouf Melki

Healthcare reform is another priority of Vision 2030, and AI is proving critical. Saudi hospitals now use AI-powered imaging tools to detect diseases such as cancer at earlier stages. Perhaps the most visible example is the Seha Virtual Hospital, launched as the world’s largest of its kind. It connects 224 hospitals across the Kingdom and provides more than 40 specialized services through remote consultations and monitoring. For patients in smaller towns or rural areas, this is vital access to world-class medical care. 

Education is also being reshaped by AI. Adaptive platforms tailor lessons to individual learning styles, and AI-powered dashboards highlight where students need extra support. The Kingdom’s strategy goes further, embedding AI awareness into curricula so that Saudi youth will not only use AI but also design it. With nearly 70 percent of the population under 35, preparing the workforce for jobs that did not exist a decade ago is perhaps the most decisive guarantee of Vision 2030’s success. 

Perhaps the most striking aspect of AI in Saudi Arabia is how it is quietly becoming part of daily routines. In Riyadh and Jeddah, AI-driven traffic systems are easing congestion. Citizens use e-government platforms to renew licenses, pay fees, or book appointments without leaving home. Even municipal services are being reimagined. In Makkah, researchers have piloted the TUHR smart waste management system, which uses sensors to detect when bins are full, sends alerts to collection teams, and even identifies harmful gases. This is especially relevant during pilgrimage seasons, when millions of visitors strain existing infrastructure. 

Adopting AI is not only about efficiency. For Saudi Arabia, it is also about values. Vision 2030 emphasizes that innovation must align with the Kingdom’s cultural and social identity. The development of Arabic-focused AI models under Humain illustrates this alignment. By ensuring that language, culture, and local context are central to innovation, Saudi Arabia is building trust and ensuring that citizens feel ownership of the technologies shaping their lives. 

Saudi Arabia’s AI story is still being written, but the direction is clear. Vision 2030 has laid the foundation for AI to move from buzzword to backbone, powering finance, energy, healthcare, and education while touching the lives of ordinary citizens. On a larger scale, the Kingdom is preparing to scale up massively. Reports of Project Transcendence suggest an investment of up to $100 billion into AI infrastructure, talent, and startups, one of the largest single commitments to AI globally. 

By 2030, AI may no longer be seen as “technology of the future” but as an invisible enabler of daily life. For Saudi Arabia, AI is not just about machines or algorithms. It is about trust, opportunity, and cultural alignment. The Kingdom is proving that innovation does not have to come at the expense of identity; on the contrary, it can thrive when rooted in it.

• Hilda Maalouf Melki is an Oxford-certified AI expert and author of AI Simplified.
 

The scale and ambition of Saudi Arabia’s transformation is remarkable. Vision 2030 calls for a dramatic change in the Saudi economy and society in a short period. 

This transformation is driven by the talent and hard work of Saudi people, and investing in human capital and leadership is at the heart of the Saudi modernization project.

This investment involves training new leaders and upskilling existing ones. Saudi Arabia is a young country. In Europe, only a third of the population is younger than 30 years old, but in Saudi Arabia it is almost two-thirds. This is an enormous opportunity but also a challenge. It is an opportunity as Saudi youth have incentives and the dynamism to modernize the country and diversify its economy. It is a challenge because to do so, they must be equipped with the right skills, and this human capital investment must happen at speed and at scale.

The investment in Saudi youth must happen in parallel to the development of current leaders. As the Kingdom’s youth is also its most promising pathway to the achievement of Vision 2030 and beyond, current public and private sector leaders have a responsibility for supporting its best deployment. Therefore, the quality of leadership in Saudi organizations is key to the success of the whole transformation project. 

This is not an easy task: Today’s leaders face an uncertain, complex, and rapidly changing environment. Disruptions and crises are regular features: Multiple conflicts and geopolitical fragmentation, the rise of artificial intelligence, climate and nature crises. 

To operate in this challenging environment, leaders need to master new technologies and understand the accelerating structural shifts in the global economy and geopolitics. But first and foremost, the complexity of the business environment implies a need for a cultural shift. However, talented and skilled, no single leader can solve their organization’s challenges alone. 

A top-down management style that may have worked in the past is now doomed to fail. Today’s leaders can only succeed through inclusion, collaboration and bottom-up innovation, by inspiring their colleagues to work together and contribute to the common goal. Modern leadership is not only about managerial competence, but also about a vision that motivates the organization to use its collective talent and energy.

The cultural shift also requires agility. As the world moves faster than ever, future-ready organizations should be prepared to change course as new challenges and opportunities arise. Leaders need to make decisions through uncertainty, while building organizations that learn from results. Pilot projects, rigorous and evidence-based evaluation, and an appetite for course correction should be institutional norms rather than one-off exercises. This requires constant analysis, accountability and adaptability.  

How then do you combine perpetual innovation and commitment to a long-term vision? How do you change without losing the common goal that inspires colleagues? The best leaders are the ones who articulate the balance between the core values and assets that define the organization and drive its success, and the processes and structures that should be constantly re-examined to make the organization more efficient and effective.

This balance depends on context and getting it right is as much art as it is science. Training today’s leaders therefore involves not just academic knowledge, but practical and experiential learning. 

Global business education on Saudi soil

This is why world-class executive education is key to the success of Saudi transformation. Saudi leaders can and should learn from international best practice, from successes and failures across the world. But those lessons need to be adapted locally. The most successful partnerships focus on co-creation, with global expertise combined with Saudi context and local ownership. The best outcomes come from long-term collaboration, sustained faculty engagement, locally contextualized case work, and leadership programs designed around the realities of the Saudi economy and Vision 2030 priorities.

It is in this spirit that London Business School is opening its Executive Education Office in Riyadh. This is a significant step for LBS. LBS is a global business school with one of the most — if not the most — international student bodies among its top-ranked peers. LBS students and executive education participants hail from all over the world including China, India, and Middle East. 

But in its 60-year history, LBS has established only one other campus outside of London’s Regent’s Park: In Dubai, where we have been teaching Executive MBAs since 2007. Opening a new office in Riyadh represents a long-term commitment to supporting the development of people and organizations driving change within the Kingdom. 

By delivering programs locally, co-developing learning experiences with Saudi organizations, and creating more accessible pathways for women and emerging leaders, the goal is to ensure that leadership capability is built where it has the greatest potential for impact.

Saudi Arabia’s next chapter will be decided not just by ambitious goals, but by the people who translate a vision into institutions that learn, adapt and include. That translation requires sustained investment in human capability with rigorous training, mentoring, and institutional incentives that reward innovation and courage. By delivering its executive education programs on Saudi soil, London Business School is proud to support the Kingdom’s investment in its current and future leaders.

• Sergei Guriev is dean of London Business School.

A recently released white paper titled “Lifting Economies: The Impact of the Aviation Sector on Middle Eastern Economies” — published by Aviation Business ME in collaboration with GE Aerospace — offers valuable insight into the transformative trajectory of the aviation industry across the Middle East.

According to the findings, aviation-related employment in the region is expected to grow by 134 percent between 2023 and 2043, the fastest rate worldwide, while passenger volumes are projected to double over the same period. With rising populations, accelerated infrastructure investments, expanding airline capacity, and the region’s strategic geographic role as a global crossroads, aviation is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful engines of economic growth and international connectivity in the Middle East.

The report highlights a striking projection: aviation’s contribution to regional GDP is set to increase by more than 150 percent by 2043, reaching an estimated $730 billion. This substantial surge underscores the sector’s emerging role as a pillar of regional economic development. By then, more than 530 million passengers — twice today’s traffic — are expected to transit through the region, with annual traffic growing at 3.9 percent.

Several factors underpin this positive momentum, foremost among them the long-term, strategic commitments made by regional governments to prioritize aviation. These commitments are visible in the scale of infrastructure modernization, the expansion and global positioning of national airlines, and the adoption of regulatory frameworks designed to foster growth and enable innovation. Combined with the Middle East’s advantageous location bridging East and West, these elements have cultivated an environment where aviation can deliver significant, sustained economic impact.

Within this broader regional ascent, Saudi Arabia stands out as a central force. Fueled by the ambitions of Vision 2030, major infrastructure investments, and a comprehensive expansion of air connectivity and tourism offerings, the Kingdom is positioning aviation as a key catalyst not only for economic diversification but also for deeper integration into global travel networks.

The white paper identifies Saudi Arabia as one of the region’s most dynamic aviation success stories. Backed by bold national strategies, transformative capital projects, and a clear vision to become a top-tier global aviation hub, the Kingdom is rapidly reshaping its aviation ecosystem.

Between 2016 and 2023, Saudi Arabia recorded the highest percentage increase in aviation-related job creation in the Middle East. Employment in the sector rose by 136 percent, reaching 1.4 million jobs — a clear reflection of the Kingdom’s commitment to embedding aviation at the core of its economic diversification plans. During the same period, the aviation sector’s direct GDP contribution grew by more than 150 percent to $91 billion.

Launched in 2021 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the National Transport and Logistics Strategy aims to solidify Saudi Arabia’s role as a global logistics hub, capitalizing on its unique position at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Talat Zaki Hafiz

Launched in 2021 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the National Transport and Logistics Strategy aims to solidify Saudi Arabia’s role as a global logistics hub, capitalizing on its unique position at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The strategy supports the overarching goals of Vision 2030 and strengthens the Kingdom’s emergence as an international gateway for travel, trade, and investment.

Through its integrated aviation and logistics initiatives, Saudi Arabia seeks to become the world’s fifth-largest air transit hub. The Kingdom plans to expand international connectivity to more than 250 destinations, introduce a new national carrier, and elevate annual passenger traffic to 330 million by 2030. Air cargo capacity is expected to increase five-fold to over 4.5 million tonnes, supported by the modernization and development of 29 airports nationwide. 

These efforts aim not only to enhance Saudi Arabia’s global aviation standing but also to accelerate the growth of key sectors such as tourism, and Hajj and Umrah services.

In parallel, the Kingdom is committed to optimizing the full aviation and transportation value chain to ensure seamless multimodal integration, operational excellence, and long-term financial sustainability — factors essential for maintaining global competitiveness.

A core objective of the transport and logistics strategy is to raise the sector’s GDP contribution from 6 percent to 10 percent by 2030. This will be achieved by enabling sectoral expansion, attracting domestic and foreign investment, and strengthening the sector’s role within the broader national economy. Additionally, the strategy aims to increase annual non-oil revenue contributions to $12 billion, further cementing transport and logistics as vital enablers of Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation.

In conclusion, the white paper successfully highlights the expanding economic influence of the aviation sector across the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia emerging as a standout leader in this evolution. The Kingdom’s progress aligns directly with its national strategies — particularly the Saudi Aviation Strategy and the National Transport and Logistics Strategy — which position aviation and logistics as fundamental pillars of Vision 2030.

Supported by significant public and private investment and a clear, long-term policy direction, Saudi Arabia is constructing a globally competitive aviation ecosystem that fuels growth in tourism, Hajj and Umrah, international trade, and non-oil revenues. The white paper not only validates this strategic direction but also reaffirms that Saudi Arabia is not merely keeping pace with regional aviation trends — it is actively shaping and accelerating them.

Through integrated planning and ambitious execution, the Kingdom is rapidly emerging as a global gateway and a driver of sustained, long-term economic prosperity.

• Talat Zaki Hafiz is an economist and financial analyst.  X: @TalatHafiz
 

 

Sufficiency, not excess, is the true beginning of sustainability — a principle that binds conscience to science and restores the moral dimension to how we build, live, and prosper in balance with our planet.

In most discussions of sustainability, the conversation begins with efficiency: advanced technologies, renewable energy, and digital intelligence. Yet before all of that lies a more fundamental question — what is enough?

True sustainability arises from the wisdom of sufficiency: the discipline of living within our ecological means. It is neither austerity nor restriction for its own sake, but a state of equilibrium in which human need no longer overwhelms natural capacity. Sufficiency is not a limit; it is liberation from waste and the rediscovery of proportion.

At the Saudi Green Building Forum, we established the saaf® conformity assessment scheme upon this conviction — that performance gains are meaningful only when anchored in balance. Sustainability cannot be measured solely by speed or scale, but by fairness and moral symmetry. Sufficiency defines that symmetry. It challenges the modern impulse for “more” and reframes progress as the pursuit of enough.

Sufficiency is the art of harmony — between people and resources, ambition and reality. Innovation should not be an instrument of endless accumulation, but a vehicle for dignified coexistence.

Efficiency tells us how well we act — how many kilograms of material per square meter, or how many kilowatts per square meter are consumed.

Sufficiency asks how much we ought to act at all — kilograms or liters per person, measured against reason rather than appetite.

As I often remind my colleagues, “Efficiency optimizes systems; sufficiency humanizes them.”

To translate this philosophy into measurable form, we conceived the Sufficiency Composite Index  — a mathematical expression of “enoughness.” The index compares actual use with target use across five domains: water, energy, materials, infrastructure, and human experience.

The meaning of sufficiency is vividly reflected in Al-Qassim, a region that has turned its desert heartland into a living model of balance and productivity

Faisal Al-Fadl

When the index attains balance (SCI ≥ 0.80), a project is considered sufficient; below that threshold, corrective measures are required. The rule is uncompromising yet just: excellence in one field cannot absolve deficiency in another. A building cannot squander water simply because it conserves energy.

Through this formulation, an ethical principle becomes a practical instrument — a compass for design, policy, and accountability.

The meaning of sufficiency is vividly reflected in Al-Qassim, a region that has turned its desert heartland into a living model of balance and productivity. Here, agriculture is guided by respect for nature’s rhythm — water is drawn only as needed, and palm cultivation reflects both abundance and restraint. In Qassim, sufficiency is not an abstract concept but a daily practice: a circular agricultural economy that transforms moderation into prosperity, proving that true wealth lies in wisdom, not in excess.

This philosophy mirrors the spirit of Saudi Vision 2030 and reinforces the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those addressing water, energy, cities, and responsible consumption. It provides governments, industries, and citizens with a coherent path to measure advancement not merely by output, but by fairness, restraint, and respect for limits.

Ultimately, I regard sufficiency as both a formula and a sentiment — the quiet realization that sustainability begins when humanity rediscovers moderation. It reconciles conscience with calculation and transforms sustainability from a policy framework into a philosophy of living.

When guided by the wisdom of time and the proportion of space, sufficiency bestows upon efficiency its true moral purpose. That is the equilibrium I believe in — a future where we build wisely, live humbly, and sustain generously.

• Faisal Al-Fadl is secretary-general of Saudi Green Building Forum.
 

In the fictional city of Techville, famous for its self-driving taxis and AI-powered bakeries, an unusual event unfolded recently. During the latest municipal elections, an artificial intelligence program, originally designed to optimize garbage collection routes, somehow ended up on the ballot. 

The algorithm, affectionately nicknamed CleanBot3000, campaigned on the promise of “zero waste, zero corruption, and zero delays.” Its slogan? “Efficiency for All.” The citizens, frustrated with traffic jams and bureaucratic red tape, found the message oddly appealing. Against all odds, CleanBot3000 won by a landslide. 

The irony was hard to ignore. A city that prided itself on being at the cutting edge of ethics in AI had just elected an algorithm as mayor. For weeks, the new “leader” issued decisions based on impeccable logic: schools with low performance were given robotic teachers; parks that generated less “footfall” were replaced by smart parking lots; elderly citizens who consumed above-average healthcare resources were “kindly redirected” to a wellness app.

It was efficient, certainly. But was it human?

Irony as a warning 

The citizens of Techville laughed at first, sharing memes about their robotic mayor. But as weeks passed, the irony turned bitter. The algorithm had no malice, but also no mercy. It treated dignity as a statistical anomaly. Efficiency stripped of empathy began to alienate those it was supposed to serve. 

This episode, highlights a real-world dilemma. When efficiency becomes the only standard, ethics are sidelined. It takes courage, not calculation, to defend the idea that human beings are not just data points.

The temptation of silence 

In the global debate on AI, the temptation is to remain silent. Technology moves fast; dissent can be labeled as “anti-progress.” Questioning the blind race toward automation often feels like shouting against the wind. After all, who wants to be the person arguing against more productivity, faster decisions, or cheaper services? 

In Techville, those who objected to the algorithmic mayor were initially mocked. “Do you want to go back to the age of paperwork and traffic jams?” critics asked. It seemed easier, even safer, to stay quiet. 

But silence in the face of ethical erosion is itself a choice, and often the most dangerous one. To defend human dignity against alienation requires moral courage: the willingness to resist both ridicule and seduction.

Courage as an ethical imperative 

History shows that progress without courage is fragile. During industrial revolutions, societies needed brave voices to defend workers from exploitation, children from factories, and communities from pollution. Today, as we live through a digital revolution, courage is needed once more, not against machines themselves, but against the mindset that reduces human beings to variables in an equation. 

Courage in AI ethics does not mean rejecting innovation. It means demanding that innovation serve humanity rather than replace it. It means insisting that algorithms remain tools, not rulers; advisers, not arbiters.

The irony of alienation

Alienation in AI rarely begins with malice. It begins with good intentions carried too far. 

In Techville, a hospital deployed an AI triage system. It was designed to prioritize patients objectively, based on symptoms and survival probabilities. The irony was that doctors, relieved from making painful decisions, began to rely entirely on the machine. Patients soon noticed that no one looked them in the eyes anymore. Diagnosis came from a screen, not a human face. 

Efficiency was maximized, but humanity was minimized. The hospital ran smoothly, yet patients felt more alone than ever. The ethical need here was not to abolish the system but to defend the dignity of care, to ensure that technology supported, rather than supplanted, human compassion. 

It took courage for a group of nurses to speak up, insisting that every patient interaction required a human presence, however brief. Their protest was initially dismissed as “nostalgia for the old ways.” But eventually, the administration recognized that the hospital’s mission was not only to heal bodies but also to dignify lives.

Human dignity 

Courageous ethics reframes the debate. Instead of asking, “Does it work?” or “Is it profitable?” we must first ask, “Does it dignify?” 

A predictive hiring system may increase efficiency, but if it reduces candidates to probability scores without acknowledging individuality, it alienates.

An AI judge may speed up trials, but if it denies the symbolic weight of being heard by another human, it alienates.

A social scoring system may promote compliance, but if it erodes privacy and self-worth, it alienates. 

In each case, courage demands rejecting alienation and defending dignity, even when doing so is less efficient.

Techville’s turning point 

Back in Techville, the citizens eventually realized their ironic mistake. They organized a public debate: Should the algorithm remain as mayor? The conversation was heated. Some argued for its impressive results: cleaner streets, faster services, reduced costs. Others insisted that leadership is not just about outcomes but about meaning. 

In a dramatic moment, a schoolteacher stood up and declared: “Our children are not growing up to admire efficiency. They are growing up to admire courage, empathy, and vision. These are qualities no machine can model.” 

The hall fell silent. The citizens voted to retire CleanBot3000 to its original role, optimizing garbage collection. A human mayor was elected, with a renewed mandate: to lead Techville’s digital revolution with ethics at its core.

Lessons beyond Techville 

The irony of Techville is a mirror for our world. Around the globe, governments and corporations flirt with the idea of letting algorithms make decisions once reserved for human judgment. The temptation is understandable, machines do not sleep, err, or complain. But in surrendering too much, we risk forgetting that technology exists to serve humanity, not the other way around. 

To resist this requires courage. Policymakers must be brave enough to regulate even when industry lobbies push for unrestricted deployment. Executives must be brave enough to sacrifice short-term profits for long-term trust. Citizens must be brave enough to demand systems that dignify, not alienate.

Conclusion

The story of Techville reminds us that irony often reveals truth. It was efficient but absurd for an algorithm to be mayor; it is efficient but dangerous for algorithms to decide our destinies. The courageous path is not to reject AI but to demand that it reflect the dignity of the human spirit.

Courage is not an accessory to ethics, it is the beating heart of it. Without courage, ethics remain words on paper. With courage, they become a living force that resists alienation and elevates humanity. 

Techville’s citizens learned this the hard way, but they learned it well: progress without dignity is alienation, but progress with courage is civilization. That is the lesson not just for a fictional city, but for all of us.

• Rafael Hernandez de Santiago, viscount of Espes, is a Spanish national residing in Saudi Arabia and working at the Gulf Research Center.
 

The 26th General Assembly is a milestone for our organization: It marks 50 years of UN Tourism and a leadership transition that will guide the next period of global cooperation. Over the past years, we have strengthened UN Tourism’s ability to drive innovation, investment, and education. Now we will continue working to build the future of the sector.
Our Regional Office for the Middle East in Riyadh has become a model of how a UN Tourism office can catalyze development through partnerships, skills programs, and investment facilitation. Hosting the General Assembly here in Riyadh highlights the Kingdom’s growing role as both a partner and a platform for tourism’s transformation.
These years have tested our sector as never before. We responded by convening the Global Tourism Crisis Committee, coordinating action and sharing solutions when they were most needed. At the same time, we continued to drive development. We expanded education through the Tourism Online Academy and advanced investment strategies. Across the UN system, UN Tourism is now recognized as a driver of innovation.
Now, our agenda is ambitious because the moment demands it. The many activities that we are impulsing these days testify to that. We are adopting the Riyadh Declaration on the Future of Tourism, opening a new chapter in how the sector grows, adapts, and serves people and places.
Alongside committee work on the program, covering sustainability, statistics, ethics, and competitiveness, we are launching key deliverables that can give a vision on how to advance. That includes an education report, “Innovating Undergraduate and Graduate Programs in Tourism,” and two investment reports: “Investing in Africa” and “Tourism Doing Business: Investing in Saudi Arabia.”
This General Assembly is showing that innovation is front and center. We are advancing responsible digital transformation, starting with practical guidance on implementing artificial intelligence in tourism. The thematic session on AI and the high-level policy debate on its transformative role are not technical side notes; they are strategic priorities for jobs, competitiveness, and inclusive growth.

Riyadh has shown how investment attraction, innovation labs, and education can reinforce sustainable, regional growth.

Natalia Bayona

The Startup Competition on Artificial Intelligence, with finalists from Spain, Saudi Arabia/UAE, India, Brazil, and Colombia, and an expert jury, show our commitment to move promising ideas from pitch to pilots to scale.
This encounter also highlighted that education and youth are non-negotiable. We invest in learning to unlock opportunities for generations to come. The Tourism Online Academy, with more than 55,000 learners worldwide, and the first cohort of the Bachelor of Science in International Sustainable Tourism demonstrate how we are building longterm capacity.
In addition, we know that partnerships will turn policy into progress. Collaboration between the public and private sector, the academia and cultural leaders, can make tourism advance. This is exemplified by our memorandum with UMusic, this public engagement and the engagement with our new Ambassador Khaby Lame, will translate vision into experiences and opportunities on the ground.
For our host country, Saudi Arabia, this assembly is both recognition and responsibility. Riyadh has shown how investment attraction, innovation labs, and education can reinforce sustainable, regional growth. The guidance and reports produced here should convert ambition into projects and investments that create jobs and safeguard cultural and natural heritage.
We celebrate 50 years grounded in a simple conviction: tourism connects people and builds understanding. We move forward committed to a future where tourism is resilient, inclusive, and guided by innovation and data-driven decisions.

• Natalia Bayona is the Executive Director of UN Tourism.
X: @NataliaBayona

Across the Arab world, land has always meant far more than soil. It holds our ancestors’ memories, the promise of tomorrow’s harvests, and the ties that weave families and nations together. 

From the fertile banks of the Nile to the oases of the Maghreb and the date groves of the Gulf, entire civilizations flourished by learning to live in harmony with scarce water and fragile soils.

Today, that precious balance is slipping away before our eyes. Droughts arrive more often and last longer. Fertile soils are exhausted. Dust storms strip fields bare. Rising heat threatens the very crops that sustained our region for centuries. 

The cost is not just measured in money, though land degradation already touches up to 40 percent of Earth’s land and drains hundreds of billions of dollars each year, but in the heartbreak of rural women who grow food without owning the land, and of young people who question whether they can build a future from it.

Yet our story is not only one of loss; it is also a testament to resilience and possibility. Across the region, communities are reawakening age‑old traditions of water harvesting, terracing and sustainable grazing. 

Governments are investing in restoring degraded land, managing our precious freshwater wisely and building resilience to drought. Every dollar invested in land restoration can return up to 30, proof that caring for our land is not just environmental stewardship but economic common sense and a moral duty to future generations.

Land is our most ancient inheritance. To protect it is to safeguard life itself.

Yasmine Fouad

Recent meetings of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment in Nouakchott show how we can act together. Ministers placed land and water at the heart of their agenda. As the UN’s voice for land, the UNCCD highlighted three key opportunities: integrating land and water management as the foundation of food security; deepening synergies between the Rio Conventions on land, biodiversity and climate through integrated projects that bring multiple benefits; and mobilizing resources at scale, attracting private investment and international finance to build green economies that create jobs while safeguarding natural resources.

This agenda builds on the region’s recent leadership. At COP16 in Riyadh last year, Arab countries helped launch the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership, mobilizing over $12 billion, and the Business4Land initiative, putting the private sector at the center of restoration. These initiatives show that the Arab region can lead global sustainability efforts and turn deserts into thriving landscapes.

The momentum from Riyadh now leads us to Panama in December for the 23rd session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention, where countries will assess how they are tackling land degradation and drought. This will set the stage for COP17 in Mongolia in August 2026, a pivotal moment for the international community to raise its ambitions and step up action to restore degraded land and build resilience to drought.

But the real test of our resolve lies far from conference rooms. It lies in the villages where farmers watch their soils come back to life, in the businesses that grow by restoring land, and in the communities where women and young people become the champions of change.

Land is our most ancient inheritance. To protect it is to safeguard life itself. With a history of ingenuity and perseverance, the Arab region can once again show that even in the harshest conditions, deserts can bloom and hope can be restored, for us and for generations to come.

• Yasmine Fouad is executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.