23/04/2017 05:51 AST
It is an interesting use of the word “chat,” because conversations with Khanna are never teatime tittle-tattle. The 39-year-old author —born in India, educated in the UAE, Europe and America, currently living in Singapore, but really a citizen of the world, has weighty matters on his mind and is not afraid to approach profound and difficult subjects.
His latest book “Connectography,” published last year to much acclaim, is a sweeping review of the economic, social and technological forces that link the great trading centers of the world. In the tradition of the great “futurist” thinkers, like Alvin Toffler or Nassim Nicholas Taleb, it is an integrated theory of the world, no less than a roadmap for the future of mankind.
Saudi Arabia gets a mention, as a country under the influence of sudden wealth and technology, in a transition from the traditional to a more modern form. King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), which Khanna visited in the course of researching the book, gets a significant section. But he does not drill down in depth into where Saudi Arabia stands in the “connectography” of the modern world.
An interview with Arab News is his opportunity. We have met previously, soon after the book was published, in the lobby of the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel in Dubai, where he described his worldview over coffee. But now, via e-mail and phone calls, I get the chance to find out where Saudi Arabia fits into that vision.
He believes that although Saudi Arabia is not yet a fully diversified economy, it is inextricably linked to the rest of the world, and especially the Middle East.
“Saudi (Arabia) is, of course, heavily connected to the world through energy markets. The recycling profits from energy, especially into Arab economies through foreign direct investment (FDI), and capital markets through investment in asset managers, are key roles. This has diminished lately as capital is repatriated because of lower oil prices and the economic strains they imposed. Then, of course, it is ‘connected’ to the world’s Muslims in strong ways, and certainly via the millions who come for Haj each year,” Khanna said.
He believes in the power of economic policy and technology to lift countries out of dependency on one commodity — in the Saudi case, oil — and achieve a level of modernity that will allow them to participate fully in the “connected” world.
Globally connected societies
Can Saudi Arabia do this via the economic transformation program currently underway as part of the Vision 2030 strategy to reduce oil dependency?
“Most of the truly globally connected societies tend to have a bigger population than Saudi Arabia, which is relatively small compared to others globally and in the region. But countries like that can do it. I am thinking of a country like Malaysia, for example. It is an Islamic country that is investing in infrastructure in a big way. It is investing in education and inviting global companies to invest in it,” he said.
He continues: “I think countries that fail to modernize do so for one of two reasons — either they inflict problems upon themselves, or there are structural reasons. There are often geopolitical reasons for failure, outside their control.
“But Saudi Arabia practices a shrewd version of multi-alignments. They have good relations with Europe, Asia and the US. So, a thing like Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO), or the big sale of bonds we have seen recently, becomes a global event and links the country to the world,” he said.
But what if geopolitical factors — of which there are plenty in a volatile region like the Middle East — threaten to throw those plans off course?
“Saudi Arabia has partners in the world that can help it with problems like Iran, Syria and Yemen. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a crucial bulwark of cooperation. The question of GCC monetary union is one of the c
Arab News
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