 Well, I want first to thank very much Prince Faisal Al-Faran to have come here especially from Riyadh to talk with us tonight and immediately after our discussion he will fly back to Riyadh for a dinner My my only I would be totally happy if You had invited me for dinner in Riyadh tonight But nevertheless it is such a present to be here that nevertheless I am very pleased Well, thank you. I'm extremely pleased to be able to be here and to have a conversation with you I always enjoy our conversations and it's glad to share it with all of your friends here and You have an open invitation to come have dinner in Riyadh any time you want. Thank you. Thank you very very much Now I am grateful to you for a second reason I apologize for your collaborators because I understand that you had a very good speech Prepared maybe it could be distributed by the way to us Later on but you have agreed to replace the speech by a discussion between the two of us so let me start by Simple question and everybody understand that you have been extremely busy the last three days so what can you tell us about the the meetings You heard in the last three days and especially on China Well, we had an excellent group of meetings. We actually had three Summits yesterday one was just our regular GCC summit which again focused on Continuing to improve and to grow into GCC corporation and actually Something I did want to point out is that we announced in that summit Israel Hanna's announced that we will be proposing a renewed vision for the GCC we already have what we call the King Salman vision for the GCC program which Resulted in a lot of the economic integration that we've already seen and we are now working on presenting Basically version 2.0 of that After that we had the GCC China summit and then we had the Arab China summit both of them were inaugural events the first of their kind and For us, of course, it's an incredibly important Prospect to continue to increase our cooperation with our main trade partners China is the main trade partner for not just Saudi Arabia But I believe for almost all of the Arab world and having this dialogue with the second largest economy in the world is For us critically important as we continue to build our partnerships In the global environment in a way that fosters the opportunities for growth and prosperity for all So in this global environment, how do you position yourself in the current increasing tensions between the US China? Now the war in Ukraine and so forth and so on and particularly as far as the oil production is concerned So for us from our perspective Polarization is the last thing we need right now, you know, we already see tremendous pressures on the global economy We should see tremendous, you know inflation other issues feud security and more polarization is not a way to solve that It's only a way to exacerbate that so our opinion is that we need to build bridges that we need to strengthen connections And that we need to find areas of cooperation The China Arab world China GC summit was one iteration of that just like the Jeddah summit with the US was it's our Attempt to continue to build bridges with all of our international partners, you know The kingdom is this year the 15th largest economy in the world. It is the fastest growing economy in the world We will be hopefully this year the first time reaching a trillion dollars in GDP. So we are growing in Importance in part of the as part of the global economy and our position the kingdom's position But also the GCC's position as really a bridge between East and West is something that we want to emphasize that we want to build on So as to address all of these challenges that we are facing and you know We live in a complicated world a difficult world There are always going to be issues that need to be addressed But the best way to address them is through dialogue is through interaction is through cooperation and that's our approach Would you for to describe your own foreign policy? Would you? Accept to use the word that the Indians use multi alignment or maybe multi non alignment Maybe you would prefer that. Yeah, it's not about alignment. It's about finding areas of cooperation for us Our foreign policy is driven by our need to build sustainable prosperity first for the Saudi people But then for the people of our region and we hope for the people of the world And we look for every opportunity to build on that Gold so if there is an opportunity to work with a partner on the global stage to further our ability to strengthen our economic Programs our social programs to strengthen our region and that can happen only through cooperation. We will follow those avenues But if you if you are interested in reducing contributing to reduce tensions in this as you said highly more and more complex world Since you are not or not yet a superpower The main interlocutors I'm thinking of a US and China have to agree with the idea that reducing tensions is a desirable goal. So do you think that today the US and China are willing to reduce tensions on the whole? I can't speak for whether or not they're willing But I can tell you that it is our firm conviction is that they must and that arise intentions is not just detrimental to them, but of course to all of us and here it's important that we the kingdom of Saudi Arabia as A leading economy as we just said 15th largest economy We expect by 2030 to be at least in the top 10 if not Ahead of that but also as a part of the developing world to Galvanize the voices of the developing world to galvanize the Voices of those countries that are most interested in a brighter future in talking to all of our partners to say look Let us focus on the future. Let us focus on cooperation competition is a good thing but Competition that leads to conflict is a bad thing. It's bad for everyone. It can only be destabilizing it can only Raise the prospects of Starvation in the developing world of deprivation all of these things. So we need to focus on building bridges We need to focus on cooperation We need to focus on how do we build sustainable prosperity for us as individual countries, but also for the global community You did not Answer to the question of oil production because after all the president Biden as far as you can understand Visited Saudi Arabia somewhat Reluctantly But he did so well if I read the newspapers he did so because he expected that OPEC in yourself would agree to increase production so what What can we say about that? We can say that Saudi Arabia OPEC OPEC plus have a very consistent policy our policy is to maintain a stable market We have worked very very hard to ensure that market stability in very difficult times If we go back to 2019-20 when we had COVID we had a serious disruption in the oil markets We saw prices in some areas go to negative which disrupted Investment in the production of energy which led to constraints on the markets. We intervened we brought Markets back into balance. We continue to do that. And if you look at The oil market compared to the gas market for instance or compared to coal markets Whether in Europe or elsewhere you will see that oil has been relatively stable compared to all other sources of energy even renewable energy And why is that because we have been actively engaged in maintaining stability in the market, you know We have talked to all of our partners the US others and we have explained very much our approach and you know the recent OPEC plus decision Going back to October now Where we announced the two million dollar cup I think we can now see given where prices are that that decision was entirely justified and one of the things we have to remember The price has to be fair to consumers and Suppliers because without a fair price for suppliers suppliers will stop investing and we are already seeing significant lack of investment in The hydrocarbon space because of the green agenda and other issues But in the long term that may be okay But in the short and medium term that is a problem because we are seeing spare capacity Continuing to come down if we see a significant recovery in China Which we all hope economically will benefit, you know will happen if we see The prospects of a recession dimming and global economic growth going up We will see significant reductions of spare capacity because of the lack of investment The only way we can ensure that there is enough investment and enough spare capacity To to cushion us from supply shocks in the near and medium term is if the price is fair to Suppliers and consumers and I would argue that the price at we are where we are now is fair most important is it stable which means that in Investors whether it's governments or major companies can see the prospects of a stable oil price now and into the future Which means that they can make their investment decisions based on that stability We don't see that in other energy markets and that is our core priority That is the mandate that opaque and opaque plus have price stability Thank you very much. This is a very precise answer more generally. What can you tell us about Saudi Russia? relations, so we have had relations Actually since after the first Gulf War and we have continued to have strong relations good relation We've tried to improve them We work very closely together of course with an opaque opaque plus historically and that as we I just explained has delivered benefits To the energy market to the oil market Obviously the situation the conflict with Ukraine is something that is of great concern to all of the global community and you know We have expressed our opinion that in the United Nations General Assembly But we as I said in my first remarks believe in dialogue So our priority is dialogue and that includes talking to Russia who we still consider as Someone that we can deal with that we have a good relationship with we have seen that relationship help for instance in Some prisoner swaps so you can build on these connections these relationships these trusts to help dialogue We know we have tried to continue to foster a dialogue between Russia and Ukraine and we continue to have an engagement something that many don't know is that we actually have commercially our relationship with Ukraine is Our trade relationship before the conflict with Ukraine was larger than it was with Russia So we have a strong relationship with both of those parties and we are focused on continuing to Foster the potential for dialogue. This conflict will only be in the end resolved through dialogue and we need to focus on that And well now many experts and commentators complain that the US policy in the Middle East is not Totally clear to say the least which of course might have some serious implications because as they say in physics Nature a bore Void so Could you comment on that? I certainly think that the US Has an important role to play and that part of that role is of course in the in our region is Being very engaged. I think they are engaged and I think we are having a very good conversation With our partners in the US But we do need To have a real strategic dialogue and that's something that's happening. It's happening on the bilateral level But it's also happening GCC US it's happening Arab world. Yes, so we have I think the US is playing an important role And will continue to play an important role in the region, especially from a security perspective and if you compare Biden to Trump or even Obama Can you are there noticeable? differences Every president will have difference in style every administration will have differences in approach and certainly you you know policy is very different between a Republican administration and democratic administration. So there will be clear differences, but in the end I believe US interests are the same whether Republican administration is an office a democratic administration office. They may approach those interests differently, but We have had a strong relationship with the US through multiple administrations Republican and Democratic So we are very accustomed to dealing with changes in approach in the end the joint interests that bind the US to the region Are the same they continue to exist and I believe they will continue to exist in the future and that means that the Space for cooperation between the the Kingdom the GCC and the US will continue to be very solid So to continue this tour de raison as we say in English the What about the GCPOA? double question in fact is there In your judgment is there still a chance That the treaty will be saved Or is it now inevitable that Iran will become a nuclear power and if so, what do you do? So is there still a chance? Certainly, there is always a chance. I cannot say there is no chance What I will ask you does Necessarily reaching a GCPOA mean that we will not have a nuclear armed Iran. I am not so sure You know, we are quite skeptical about the J4A. That said we continue to support An engagement on the J4A and a return to J4A On the condition that that be a starting point not an endpoint So it'd be a starting point to addressing some of the deficiencies within the J4A and some of the other issues of concern The signs right now are not very positive. Unfortunately We hear from the Iranians that they have no interest in a nuclear weapons program It would be very comforting to be able to believe that We need more assurance on that level If we don't reach a J4A, I think we enter a very very complicated Period in our region a very dangerous period that we should avoid that said even if we did come back to a J4A I'm not sure that that is the end. I think we need then to look beyond that to a stronger agreement Can you elaborate a little further on what happens if they get the operational nuclear weapon? I think clearly if the Iran gets an operational weapon, all bets are off We are in a very dangerous space in the region. You know, we have already seen Significant activity from Iran we could see much more risk from that and of course regional states will not want to You know to be exposed to such a threat without a reaction. So you can expect that regional states will certainly Look towards how they can ensure their own security Few words on Europe Saudi Europe European Union France in particular because France is my country. So this is of course We have started last year actually we signed an Strategic framework with the European Union between the GCC and the European Union, which has already brought significant progress we restarted our FTA talks after they had been stalled for many many years. So that's a positive sign and I think You know Europe is still one of our main trade partners and it's a very important technological partner So there's a lot we can do with Europe. I would say that Europe needs to be more engaged in this region We have a lot to offer Europe in this region we are of course and already a very important energy partner But we are also a very important partner for the energy transition. So Europe cannot achieve its Carbon neutrality goals without this region because you cannot produce enough renewable energy in Europe We are investing the kingdom others in the region tens of billions hundreds of billions of dollars in developing Green hydrogen capacity in developing solar energy capacity wind capacity the capacity to export that green energy To Europe and elsewhere. So we will be a key partner for Europe Well into the next century So we want to build on that partnership the relationship between the kingdom and France is very very strong I can say that we can see President Macron is very engaged in the region is very active in trying to work with Francis partners in the region and we have built a Excellent working relationship with our French counterparts across the board whether it's in the economic side, but also the political side dealing with the regional Files whether it's Lebanon Iran etc. So we we look towards strengthening that relationship and France has been as I said very proactive and that's something that we we appreciate so I would like to spend the last few minutes to say a few words about the domestic situation I think Not so many people in Europe in particular understand what is going on in Saudi Arabia and a lot of things are Going on but before that is there any important question on foreign affairs that I did not ask I Would not presume Terry to tell you what is important in foreign affairs, that's what I call you an ask Well, but if anyone here think there is one important question that they did not ask which is very possible, you know because But apparently one two three No, no, no, no, I'm talking of global affairs. No, no, no, well apparently I Don't see. Oh, yes. Yes, maybe your regular Abraham accord. That's a good question. Sure. What's the question? What's the question? What is the answer? Because you know if the question It is better to start from the answer because after all you have to do big I can't I can tell you what the answer is. Yeah, the answer is a Palestinian state the answer is a Palestinian state Yes, yes, yes, I remember discussion in Paris on that and that's that's a very Serious point. So next time we have the pleasure of being with you Perhaps we should concentrate with a few others on the issue of the of the of the Palestinian state. Well now If I think we have maybe five four more minutes or something like that Why I think we should it would be good to take the opportunity of having you because you are Typically representative the new generation of leaders in Saudi Arabia if I may remind you of course Saudi citizen your father is Saudi if it's in that your mother was German citizen You speak Germany as Fluently as English is English is extremely good, too. I must say so you are very International there is a new generation of business people open to the world So can you just tell us a few words about how you see your country today and and the dream of the young Saudis for the next Generation, let's say first I'm actually already relatively old because I'm in my late 40s and 70% of Saudis are under 35 So I am I'm actually on one of the later generation But I'm happy to contribute as much as I can under the leadership of his Majesty the king and the crown prince to setting up the future for this younger generation and I think it's a tremendously exciting time to be working in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia We are undergoing breakneck change We are most importantly Working under a clear road map under a clear vision and I referred to it earlier Building sustainable prosperity for the Saudi people and that is the absolute priority the absolute driving ethos of everything that the government of Saudi Arabia does Whether it's domestic policy, whether it's foreign policy. So my mandate as foreign minister is very clear my mandate is to support and to Enhance the prospects of achieving the goals of that vision Sustainable prosperity for the Saudi people and that's what I spent most of my time on and That's tremendously exciting to have a very clear Direction what you're working on what are the goals? What are the objectives and of course We could go into any number of details But you know we mentioned one of them the fact that we are this year going to Probably reach one trillion dollars GDP size for the first time in our history the fact that Saudi Arabia with all of the challenges that this region presents is the fastest growing economy in The world that we are on track to being the fastest growing economy in the G20 for the next five years according to our estimates the fact that we have Plans in place that will likely mean that we are by 2030 in the top eight economies in The world all of that means that it's a tremendously exciting time to be part of the government under the leadership of The king and the crown prince and it means also that we have a lot a lot a lot of expectations to live up to But you know we have a fantastic team We have a fantastic energy within the government to work that and most important if you you know We hope you can visit us in the kingdom and there all of you here You can see the energy in the kingdom and that energy is infectious You can see people really being excited about the future. You can see people being Engaged and in in the future Unemployment numbers are down how ownership numbers are at historic highs You know we are now Already very long around on the path towards diversifying our economy away from a dependence on oil All of these targets are moving steadily ahead and that is contributing not just to the success of the kingdom But also we hope and we believe to the regional success Do you of course the country is extremely young as you reminded us, but do you still have? Resistance some kind of social resistance from the older oldest generation So as one of that older generation, I can tell you that I am talking to my generation, for instance My generation of Saudis. Yeah, you would be surprised. This is something that's I think Everything that the kingdom is doing because we are doing it in a very very well studied way because the leadership Has taken care to study every decision and based on a clear logic a clear logic of numbers a clear logic of Of necessity Everybody understands and everybody is excited even the older generations You know people that are older than I people are very very engaged and I hope you know when you visit the kingdom Terry You will see how engaged everybody is across the board Everybody will have their opinions, but in the end the energy the prospect of Moving towards the future. I think what you will hear most is of most people is we've been waiting for this for many years And we're just so happy that we get to see it So a very last question we could spend a lot of time with you, but you already were very generous But a very last time that would bridge the two topics that is foreign affairs and domestic affairs. There is a Very classical subject very much discussed by Professors that is the relationship between domestic And foreign policy. So in your position today, how do you see this relation? Absolutely key. So I alluded to it earlier my mandate from my leadership is very clear Saudi Arabia's foreign policy is a tool for its domestic prosperity. That is the top priority How can we deliver? Sustainable prosperity for the Saudi people everything we do on the foreign policy issue must be focused primarily on that and that of Course means protecting our interests building partnerships, but it also means building a stable secure region because you cannot Build prosperity in a turbulent region It also means working with our global partners to ensure global stability because as we have seen from the conflict in Ukraine a Crisis anywhere in the world can have impacts all around the world So we must if we want to protect our pathways to sustainable prosperity We must be engaged in the world So one of the results of that mandate is that we are trying to be more engaged Not just in our immediate region, but globally in a way that serves our interests But the serves the interests of the wider global community with a focus I have to say really on the developing world because for us, you know We feel very strongly that the developing world's voice has not been Heard enough and we are of course part of the developing world still You know and we see that the global agenda historically has often been set in a way that has ignored the interests of developing countries Most of the time out of the best intentions, but still They have not served really effectively the developmental path of those developing countries in a way that is most effective So we want to be part of the global conversation In a way that ensures Everybody has a pathway to prosperity because we you know even in the regional context We have taken an approach that it is absolutely key that our immediate neighbors are not just stable They are also prosperous because if they have a growing economies if they have Growing markets that is for us an opportunity and vice versa if we are stable if we are growing we provide a great market for them So that's the key focus for our foreign policy You know at a different scale. It seems to be that the formulation Your formulation is very close to that that we had yesterday to this similar discussion with dr. Anwar Gagrash on the UAE Foreign foreign policy, so you Your general philosophy is quite similar I Think if you talk to any GCC foreign minister, yeah, you will hear the same message. Yes, and this is just a reflection again That we are very much a strong unified block that we work together very effectively that we have very similar Visions our leadership in the UAE in the sign Kingdom Saudi Arabia You know our various countries leaderships are very close to each other. They work together They work towards ensuring prosperity for not just their countries, but the region and we're gonna continue to do that I will ask our European Union friends to follow your example We are happy to share our experiences Well, it's time to end this session Thank you very much. I think you were great if you allow me to speak in this way excellent discussion and I wish you all the best for you personally for your country, and I hope that Saudi Arabia will be more present in the world policy conference in the For coming years Thank you very much. Have a safe trip back, and I hope you will be back on time In Riyadh for this dinner to which I am not participating Well, thank you very much Terry. Thank you all