Saudi Arabia Goes Global

Today Saudi Arabia can boast the largest economy in the Middle East. It is the seventeenth-largest in the world - and rising. No country on earth can have experienced so dramatic and so fast a transformation of its economy and society.

For the first time these films reveal the nature of this transformation, and the way it's touching the lives of people at every level. They show how the country has opened its doors to the world, to new markets, new opportunities and new sources of income. In recent years this process has accelerated rapidly, bringing enormous benefits but also great challenges.

The context of the films is the decision of the Saudi political and economic leadership to break the nation's dependency on oil, and to create a diverse world-class economy. Considerable progress has already been made, although everyone agrees that there is still a long way to go.

And in the last decade decisions to dramatically accelerate economic reform and the development of a post-oil economy have gained a new intensity.