It's Ability, Not Friendship That Matters

Saudi Education Minister Prince Faisal bin Abdullah has signed a SR2 billion contract with China Railway-15 Bureau Group for the construction of 200 school buildings in various cities of the Kingdom. The Chinese company won the contract in competition with several global construction companies, the Saudi Press Agency reported Saturday. The new school buildings with a total capacity of 150,000 will be operational months after the date of the signing of the contract. The contract period has been fixed at 14 months. The contract represented 6 percent of 3,500 projects currently being implemented by the Ministry of Education at a total cost of SR20 billion. When completed, the schools will have a capacity of 1,700,000 students of both sexes. The ministry takes over an average of 80 new schools a month.

This development shows two vital facts: one - China has become the preferred infrastructure builder for the Kingdom in recent years. Apart from schools, the Chinese companies are building Saudi Arabia's railways, and other infrastructure - worth billions of dollars.

Now consider these facts to understand India's relevance to Saudi Arabia:

1. Indians have been working in Saudi Arabia since before the days oil was found.
2. India has the largest number of expats living in Saudi Arabia as of now
3. India has the world's second largest population that follows Islam - the religion that defines the Saudi nation
4. Indian engineers and other professionals have played a huge role in building the existing infrastructure in Saudi Arabia (even though the contractors may have been non-Indian)
5. Saudis for generations have received education in India and have social links with India
6. Indians in Saudi Arabia have assimilated with the society by adopting Arabic language and local customs

Also look at this:

1. The Chinese do not live and work at all in Saudi Arabia, except a handful who work for Chinese companies that have won contracts here
2. China has since 60s suppressed its Uighur Muslim minority
3. There is hardly any cultural or other similarity or interaction between China and Saudi Arabia

However, the big bucks flow to China from Saudi Arabia. Saudi hypermarkets are full of cheap goods manufactured in China. China has wisely started a 24 hour Arabic satellite channel that spreads the virtues of the Chinese culture and the news of how happy the Chinese Muslims are!

The Indian government and companies should get this lesson - Shape up! Understand the world dynamics! The world will love you not because you are a friendly state with law abiding expats enriching the foreign economies. You will be loved for your strength, as in the case of your IT outsourcing abilities. Improve your brand equity. Look at you weaknesses - your inability to put your own infrastructure right - and you lose billions in potential business.