Jum'ah Foresees Arabs in Civilization's Forefront
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Author: Saudi Aramco News
Released 13 December 2007
MANAMA, Bahrain, December 12, 2007 -- Saudi Aramco employees joined 500 of the Middle East’s leading Arab thinkers at the sixth Arab Thought Conference last week to discuss the future of the Arab world after globalization.
The conference was sponsored by HRH Prince Khaled Al-Faisal ibn Abdulaziz, Amir of Makkah and head of the Arab Thought Foundation; HH Sheikh Salman ibn Hamad al-Khalifa, Crown Prince of Bahrain; and Abdallah S. Jum‘ah, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, who gave speeches on the challenges of globalization.
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Saudi Aramco’s Mazen M. Mashour, left, winner of the Arab Creativity award at the Arab Thought Foundation’s Fikr 6 in Manama, Bahrain, addresses some of the 500 people who were part of the gathering. Mashour won for his smokeless flare invention.
Although globalization has removed all barriers and allowed people and money to move freely across borders, it is not something to be feared, Amir Khaled and Crown Prince Salman said. Globalization poses many challenges to the Arab world, and is a new reality based on economic, intellectual and technological competition and cooperation that should be welcomed. It is not a clash of cultures and ideas. They called for “the initiative to start where others have ended.”
Jum‘ah agreed, and emphasized the opportunities for development in his keynote speech.
“When we talk about the future, the word ‘development’ is the magic word,” he said. The Middle East faces intellectual, political and security challenges. “But if we invest in these prosperous years effectively, it is possible to see a prominent Arab civilization bringing us to the forefront among nations,” Jum‘ah said.
Guest panelists take part in the Arab Thought Foundation’s sixth conference.
Jum‘ah called for Arabs to follow the Chinese and Indian example and focus on developing their primary resource: people. “This wealth is the winning card in the race of globalization,” he said. “Human development and economic development should be twin pillars of Arab Thought.”
He talked about oil’s role in both developments, and assured attendees that it would continue to play a major role for many years, despite the rising price of oil and continuing conflict in the Middle East. Energy security of supply, for consumers, and demand, for producers, was another issue.
“Global demand requires the development of conventional and alternative energy sources side-by-side - together - not one at the expense of the other,” he said. “Alternative energy will not replace oil in the foreseeable future but will complement it.”
Still, the experience of the oil industry and of Saudi Aramco, as a diverse and global institution that arose from an Arab environment, was one that the Arab world could benefit from. He said that corporate governance, human resources and innovation were the three important ingredients of any successful institution.
It was these last two points that Jum‘ah stressed and found most relevant to the development of the Arab world. “I am honored that people consider Saudi Aramco as more than just a company, but a school that prepares generations with high professionalism,” he said.
It is Saudi Aramco’s educational environment that encourages people to express different views, helping them to create and innovate. “The company has seen strong enthusiasm from employees in their search for ‘the smart idea,’” Jum‘ah said.
A testament to this enthusiasm lay in Mazen Mashour, the young engineer who won the Arab Thought Foundation’s Innovation Award for his invention of a smokeless flare; the 20 Saudi Aramco employees who participated in an innovation workshop and produced an education plan that they presented; and Muhammad Saggaf, manager of the EXPEC Advanced Research Center, who was a panelist in the conference’s technology and innovation discussion.
“They live and work together, scientists, engineers, researches and thousands of other employees from different sectors.” Jum‘ah said. A tolerant and understanding environment was essential for the development of people and their new ideas, he said, and was something that Arab intellectuals could help create by promoting lifelong learning, a good work ethic and values.
Pluralism, coexistence and dialogue are a good defense against extremism and terrorism, he argued, and are badly needed in the age of globalization so that cultures could converse and not clash.