by Pincas Jawetz (PJ@SustainabiliTank.info)
Milano, Italy, December 13, 2005

The International Herald Tribune, December 13, 2005, wrote in - “Saudi Arabia works to shift its economy away from dependence on oil: - “Like most oil producers, Saudi Arabia has found that oil was less a blessing than a course. In the 1970s, the state modernized rapidly, built roads, schools, hospitals, and universities, and gave safe government jobs to its people. But when energy prices collapsed, the state found it could not pay all its bills.”

The article finds that in Saudi Arabia oil provides 40% of the economy and about 90% of government revenue, so they decided to develop petrochemicals, mining, plastics and fertilizers, with Sabic, the Saudi Basic Industries Corp. becoming the Middle East largest non-oil company. “They feel the need to develop industries that create added value and jobs, and develop fields where they have a natural advantage,” said Jean-Seznec, a professor at Columbia University’s Middle East Institute.

Above seems perplexing somewhat because of the simple fact that this expansion is not a real diversification as it is still based on oil - albeight on added value rather then sales of oil as a commodity, but it is still oil.

In Montreal the Saudis fought for recognition of their future losses when the world will finally realize that less oil is better future policy. Why do the Saudis not realize that they could stay in the energy business by exporting not only oil, or oil based product, but also the sun? I introduce here the begining of a series of articles, based on a more rational look at what was presented in Montreal wity the bottom line that the Arabs have a chance to survive by joining the trade of energy from the sun. How long will it still take for the Saudis to see what other Arabs see already now?