Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Cabinet Member and Climate Affairs Envoy Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir stressed that the Kingdom is working on formulating the standards and not just following them and has high goals that it seeks to realize being the world’s largest oil producer.
Al-Jubeir said that the Kingdom is working with several countries in addressing climate change and has made environmental initiatives in this regard, including the city design, “The Line,” the green and blue hydrogen, clean energy, and wind energy.
The minister’s remarks came during his participation in a panel session titled, “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Minerals: Development Incentives – Multi-Dimensional Approach,” held as part of the third annual International Mining Conference in Riyadh.
He said that the Kingdom is working on global initiatives, whether those related to oceans, reducing the use of plastic, or afforestation initiatives to achieve economic diversification.
Al-Jubeir also explained that the Kingdom has an extended history of mediation to resolve conflicts and has played an important role over the past decades to achieve regional and international security and stability. He noted that the Kingdom had proposed the Arab Peace Initiative a few decades ago and continues to work on mediation in various countries facing crises due to its international responsibility and its belief in achieving security and stability that would encourage investment and improve the quality of life for the Saudis and for the entire world.
The minister said that the Kingdom is working with the international community to address global challenges to achieve economic development and encourage investments, pointing out that natural resources and minerals allow achieving the transition to renewable energy.
“We need important resources and minerals, whether for development or technical purposes or to achieve the energy transition, and it is important that we have a fair mechanism that allows for the integration of economies rather than their exploitation, starting with infrastructure of countries that possess the resources and helping them to create value, job opportunities, and mineral wealth to build bridges between investing countries and mineral-rich countries to achieve stability and improve trade and investment,” he said.
Al Jubeir explained that the Saudi Arabian Mining Company—Ma’aden—is carrying out mining activities at the local and global levels through cooperation with companies and countries that have mines, adding that this cooperation will be beneficial to everyone and will benefit countries seeking investment. He also explained mechanisms to achieve sustainability in economic integration, whether at the regional or global level, saying, “The more the integration process increases, the fewer conflicts will be.”
Al-Jubeir stressed the need for scientific-based solutions to climate change to work on redesigning smart cities to be more effective through afforestation efforts, carbon sequestration, electric cars, solar energy, or hydrogen energy. “All of these elements will enable us to confront climate challenges,” he said.
Al Jubeir pointed out that the Kingdom has the largest economic programs in the world, it gives less developed countries more than they require, and makes efforts to help developing countries, whether in the health, infrastructure, or educational sectors, out of its responsibility and endeavor to build bridges for communication with countries of the world.
