NO doubt that the historic and gigantic development plan under the title " Vision 2030", which Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman announced its approval by the Council of Ministers and whose details were uncovered by Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, has triggered an overwhelming wave of optimism in the hearts of all the Saudi people. Because the contents of the book are known from its title, we can safely say that we are approaching important stations in the history of our country. When this vision succeeds, Saudi Arabia will rediscover itself in an unprecedented and unexpected manner. I will not delve into the details of this ambitious and daring plan because most of the readers must have come to know of it from the television interview which Prince Muhammad gave to our colleague Turki Al-Dakheel on Al- Arabiya news channel. A number of newspapers and media tools have published the text of the interview or excerpts of it. I will, instead, go directly to the interesting points in the interview about transparency, fighting corruption and bureaucracy. These objectives can be wholly or partly accomplished through privatization and the establishment of centers to assess the performance of the government. However, the tight government monitoring and control will not be effective without the full participation of the citizens in the process of national decision-making. Today we are talking about a Saudi Arabia, which does not depend on oil any more. This means that we will be living in a different reality from that in which we were born and brought up. In the past, the government and people of Saudi Arabia were on a free ride under the sponsorship of oil. We used to drill oil from underground to enjoy its revenues. Now we are in for a real partnership between the people and the government to realize the objectives of the vision for the development of our country. Under this historic vision, the role of the citizen should not be only watching from a distance as an uncommitted spectator. The citizen should, therefore, be a real partner and a supervisor not only of the country's wealth but also on the performance of the ministries and the other government departments. The participation of the citizens in the national decision-making can be achieved through various modalities. The most important of these is through deepening the popular involvement in government work and dependence on the creative national cadres in various fields. Prince Muhammad has referred to this matter in his television interview. Finally, we pray to Almighty Allah to preserve the safety and integrity of this country and its people. We also pray to Him to make this vision a complete success so that our country will take its right place among the most developed countries of the world.
