February 22: A Day Immortalizing National Achievements and Cementing the Transformation Journey
On the morning of February 22, 2023, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud officially launched Vision 2030 in a grand ceremony at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, marking the beginning of an ambitious national project aimed at diversifying the economy and reducing dependence on oil, building a vibrant society, a thriving economy, and a prosperous nation befitting the Kingdom’s global standing. The ceremony was attended by high-ranking state leaders, officials from both the public and private sectors, and representatives of international institutions.
The Vision, prepared under the supervision of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, includes 12 strategic pillars covering sectors such as energy, industry, tourism, culture, education, health, and technology. It aims to increase the non-oil sector’s contribution to GDP from 16% to 50% by 2030, raise foreign direct investment to 5.7% of GDP, and attract 100 million annual tourist visits, a 400% increase compared to 2018 levels, according to the Ministry of Investment’s 2023 annual report.
Since its announcement, the Kingdom has witnessed fundamental transformations: the launch of the NEOM project spanning 26.5 thousand square kilometers, the opening of the new King Khalid International Airport, the establishment of the General Entertainment Authority, which has organized over 15,000 events since 2019, and a significant increase in tourist visas issued, from 1.7 million in 2018 to over 16 million in 2023, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
In the education sector, the number of Saudi students studying abroad through the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program has doubled to over 200,000, while the number of licensed private and international universities has increased from 12 to 39, according to the Ministry of Education. The number of startups in the Kingdom has also surpassed 1,200, compared to just 200 in 2018, according to the National Entrepreneurship Authority “Riyadah.”
In his speech during the fifth-anniversary celebration of Vision 2030, the Crown Prince stated, “We are not building projects; we are building generations and crafting a future measured not by oil quantities but by the quality of human beings, their ambition, and their ability to innovate.” The Minister of Investment, Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, also emphasized in his annual report that “foreign direct investment in the Kingdom grew by 140% over
