Best 4 quotes of Ellen R. Wald on MyQuotes

Back in 1947, Saudi Arabia lacked basic modern infrastructure. At the time, IBI was already completing projects for Aramco, so the company had been the natural choice to contract for the public works campaign in 1947. By 1951, however, major cities were already electrified and transportation routes had been built. Sanitation services, hospitals, hotels, and even cafés had sprung up around Riyadh and Jeddah. The equipment, plans, and logistics for further expansions were in place. The easily accessible knowledge and personnel that, in the 1940s, made IBI such an advantageous choice now took a back seat to cost.

It is worth stating clearly and unambiguously what official U.S. government spokespersons have not: For years, individuals and charities based in Saudi Arabia have been the most important source of funds for Al Qaeda; and for years, Saudi officials have turned a blind eye to this problem.

The Saudi experience with IBI, though brief, proved instrumental and became a model for how the Saudis went on to conduct business. Saudi Arabia understood that it lacked the resources of more developed nations. These included a large population, an educated populace, capital, credit, and native businesses. What Saudi Arabia realized it did have was an immense quantity of a very desirable resource: petroleum. Because it lacked so many resources, it could not drill for, extract, refine, transport, or sell that petroleum on its own. It needed outside firms to access the value of the petroleum, at least initially.

The Saudis considered the petroleum under their soil a gift from God, but accessing its value laid within man’s capacity. Until the Saudis developed the capabilities themselves, they would simply import the human capital they needed to make that petroleum valuable. This meant importing Aramco to run the oil industry, IBI and, later, other companies to build modern cities and transportation, and even American financial advisors to create a modern banking system. The trick was to buy what they did not have from the outside, and then to make it their own.