US TIME interviewed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last month at New York City’s Plaza Hotel during his American tour.

The interview is set to feature on Time’s April 16 issue. The Crown Prince discussed various topics with Saudi Arabia’s reformation plans in the lead, as well as Saudi US relations and visions for the region.

Time magazine’s Editor-at-Large Karl Vick sat with Mohammed bin Salman for a lengthy 75-minute conversation.

Vick asked Prince Mohammed about the rationale behind his US tour, to which the crown prince replied: “The United States of America is one of our oldest allies in the whole world, and we are the oldest ally of the United States of America in the Middle East. And the economic relationship between both countries is very deep.”

Saudi-US relations

On having a good relationship with President Trump, the Saudi Crown Prince affirmed “Of course we have a good relationship with President Trump, with his team, with his family, with all the key people in his administration, and also we have a very good relationship with many members of Congress from both parties and a lot of people in the United States of America. And everyone believes in the importance of both countries to face the dangers facing us and also to continue growing and getting a better future for both countries.”

In reference to dealing with the previous US administration, Prince Mohammed noted: “The only difference was in the tactics of how we should deal with that evil narrative of the Iranian regime. So it’s not a big difference. We are aligned 99 percent. The difference is only 1 percent. But, you know, people try to focus on the 1 percent and avoid the 99 percent that we agreed on.”

Commenting on assigning John Bolton as National Security Advisor, the crown prince said: “I’m sure when he’s appointed he will represent the views of the United States of America, and we will deal with him and we will see what happens. But of course we will support him.”

Saudi plan

In reply to a key question about the plan for Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Crown Prince explained, “We are now in the third Saudi Arabia which was established by King Abdulaziz, also known as Ibn Saud, my grandfather.”

“King Faisal came with a really great young team, and among his team were King Khaled, King Fahd, King Abdullah, King Salman, Prince Sultan, Prince Nayef, and many other people. And they’ve transformed the country from mud houses to world standard modern cities,” he said.

“But for us as a young generation, we’ve not seen this, because we were born in that great modern city. We lived in an economy that is already among the top 20 economies of the world, and our eyes are focusing on what we are missing, what we can’t do. And we believe that Saudi Arabia until today used only 10 percent of its capacity, and we have 90 percent to go,” he added.

Reformation vision

Regarding Saudi Vision 2030 and the industrial developments in the Kingdom, the crown prince highlighted that: “We spend $230 billion US a year outside Saudi Arabia. If we do nothing, it will go up in 2030 to between $300-400 billion US spent outside of Saudi Arabia. The plan is to spend half of it in Saudi Arabia. We have many programs to do this.”

About education in Saudi Arabia, the Crown prince said: “We are ranked 41 among education systems around the world. France is ranked 40, so we are almost like France, as to the quality of the education system… We want to drive the best talent, to get the best talent to live and come abroad to work in Saudi Arabia … So this is a very important thing that we are trying to improve. And I believe in the last three years, Saudi Arabia did more than in the last 30 years.”

True Islam

Mohammed bin Salman responded to a question about Islam and the challenges to combat extremism. In his defense of Islam, the crown prince said: “We believe the practice today in a few countries, among them Saudi Arabia, it’s not the practice of Islam. It’s the practice of the people who have hijacked Islam after ’79.”

Prince Mohammed explained that the old thought prior to the progressive vision that Saudi Arabia embraced after ’79 is challenged by the prophet practice, he added: “I am young. I don’t want 70 percent of the Saudi population to waste their lives trying to get rid of this. We want to do it now. We want to spend 70 percent of our time building things, improving our economy, creating jobs, creating new things, making things happen.”

Saudis not sects

Concerning Sunni and Shiite sects, the crown prince said: “We don’t differentiate among Saudis based on sects. We live in Saudi Arabia as Saudis in Saudi Arabia.”

The crown Prince stated that the focus should be on the end, not the means: “These ends are the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom to work and security. These are the ends that everyone agrees on, that we agree on in Saudi Arabia in our own way,” he said.

Source english.alarabiya.net