Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia has spoken on many important issues in an interview given to the country’s national television. In this, he also took the name of India and advocated good relations with India.
The Saudi Arabian economy, which is dependent on revenue from oil, has also been badly affected due to the Korana epidemic. In such a situation, it was being said that till now Saudi Arabia did not impose income tax but could impose it in the coming days. But the Crown Prince has dismissed these speculations.
Prince Salman said in the interview that there is no plan to introduce income tax in Saudi Arabia. In July last year, Saudi Arabia temporarily increased VAT from five percent to 15 percent.
The Quran is the only constitution
The Crown Prince said about the constitution that the Quran is the constitution.
He said, “I had already said that our constitution is Quran and still is.” And it will continue, forever. This is also seen in the basic system of governance. Be it the government or the Shura Council as the legislature or the Shah; All three are bound to follow the Quran. But in social and private matters, we apply only those conditions which are clearly stated in the Quran. We cannot punish according to the Shari’a without a clear explanation. ”
One percent share of Aramco will be sold
The Crown Prince also said that there is talk of selling one percent share of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Aramco. Last month, the Crown Prince announced that Saudi Arabia would spend so much in the next 10 years to strengthen the public-private sector partnership program that has not happened in the last 300 years.
The Crown Prince launched Saudi Vision 2030 and has given this interview only after completing its five years.
On triple the value added tax i.e. VAT, the Crown Prince said, “We are working on a plan to reduce it.” It was a difficult decision to triple VAT. It was a painful decision for me. We do not want the people of Saudi to face difficulties under any circumstances. We are working for a long period about the future. Our goal is for 20-30 years to come. ”
The Crown Prince did not say who would buy one percent of Aramco’s share. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is considered to be the real ruler of Saudi Arabia.
He said in his interview that the shares of two more companies will be sold. It is said that it was difficult to even think of selling shares of Aramaco before the Crown Prince, but now Mohammed bin-Salman is doing all this to promote foreign investment in Saudi Arabia. This policy is also being described as part of his vision 2030.
90% issues agreed with Biden administration
It was being said that after Trump’s departure in the US, the situation of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East will weaken and the US-Saudi relationship will also turn. The Crown Prince said in his interview that 90 percent of the issues are agreed with US President Joe Biden. He said that the issues on which there is disagreement are being worked on together.
The Crown Prince said, “Just as brothers in every family do not agree 100% on all issues, the same happens with governments.”
The Crown Prince said, “It is clear that there is disagreement on some issues between the US government and Saudi.” These disagreements keep increasing and decreasing. But we have agreement on 90% of the issues. Our foreign policy is governed by the interests of Saudi Arabia.
President Biden stopped supporting Saudi Arabia’s aggressive military operations in Yemen.
The Crown Prince said that the population of Saudi Arabia is continuously increasing and to meet the needs of the growing population, only the revenue of oil is not enough. He said that the major goal of Vision 2030 is to reduce Saudi dependence on oil revenue.
The Crown Prince said, “When oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia, the population was 20 to 3 million, which has now increased to about 20 million. In such a situation, we cannot fulfill the growing population and ambitions due to the revenue from oil. We have gone a long way since the 1960s. If we follow the old path, then in the coming 20-30 years we will be affected and we will not be able to continue the present lifestyle. ”
India’s name prominently
The Crown Prince also named India in his interview. He said that Saudi Arabia is working on strengthening relations with India.
Prince Salman said, “In the 1950s, the American economy was 50 percent of the entire economy of the world, but what is the situation right now?” Now it is only 20%. After the second world war, the picture of the whole world changed. We are trying to strengthen the relationship with the rest of the strategic partners. ”
“We are strengthening relations with Gulf countries, Middle East countries and Britain, France, Europe, India, China, Russia, Latin America and Africa.” We are doing all this in the interest of Saudi Arabia and no country will do any harm to it. China is declaring that Saudi Arabia is its strategic partner. India is doing the same. Russia said the same. Despite this, however, we have a strategic partnership with the US.
The Crown Prince said, “We are strengthening foreign relations for our interests.” This is also good for the rest of the countries and international interest. After all, every country has its own election. We take care of mutual interests. Saudi Arabia will not tolerate interference of any country in internal affairs. The Charter of the United Nations should be complied with to respect the sovereignty of every country. ”
Soft on iran
The Crown Prince also spoke openly about relations with Iran.
He said, “Iran is our neighboring country. We want a good relationship with Iran. We do not want the relationship with Iran to be complicated. We want both countries to benefit from each other. The problem is that we are victims of negativity. We want to solve the problem. We hope to have a good relationship with Iran.
Regarding Yemen, the Crown Prince said that this is not the first crisis between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
He said, “It happened for the first time in the time of King Abdulaziz and it was also resolved. Then it happened in the 1970s and 80s and it was resolved in the 1990s. The third time the crisis started in 2009. If the rebels were not involved in this, we would have found a solution for this too. ”
