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Saudi government departments and executive agencies have been given two weeks to remove “obstacles” to the delivery of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 unveiled in April by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a statement released by the Council of Economic & Development Affairs (CEDA) said yesterday.
CEDA, which Prince Mohammed chairs, is the kingdom’s supreme economic policy-making body.
“… the concerned executive agencies have to shoulder the responsibility of removing hurdles (obstructing the delivery of Vision 2030) in the first place, and referring the causes of delay or impediments in realizing these initiatives to the concerned agencies, while emphasizing the role of accountability if needed,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. “These hurdles shall be addressed within two weeks.”
The announcement of a deadline for the initial work associated with the vision reflects the exceptional urgency that has been brought to the kingdom’s long-term planning since King Salman bin Abdulaziz succeeded to the throne in January 2015.
The vision calls for a radical transformation of the Saudi economy that involves reducing its dependence upon oil.
According to the official Saudi Press Agency, CEDA has been given responsibility for delivering the vision. A Vision 2030 finance and media team have been set up within CEDA to support implementation of the vision and a new CEDA Vision 2030 strategic committee will meet at least once every three months. The committee will be supported by a strategic administration office and a project management office that will support CEDA.
The statement said that the Ministry of Economy & Planning will represent CEDA in dealing with other government departments and agencies, gather and distribute data and co-ordinate sector and regional plans.
The statement also said a CEDA Centre for Achievement & Quick Intervention had been created.
The statement said that heads of government departments and ministries will be primarily responsible for achieving CEDA and Vision 2030 objectives.
A National Centre for Evaluating the Performance of Public agencies has been created to “to strengthen transparency of all the concerned parties through following up on how much progress has been achieved in implementing programs, initiatives and realizing targets, and evaluating the level of progress at regular intervals”.
The centre will created electronic boards displaying key performance indicators and regular audited reports about the delivery of the vision.