Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's deputy premier, and defence minister said on Tuesday that many of the country's Vision 2030 targets will be met before 2030. The Crown Prince discussed Vision 2030, which seeks to globalize Saudi Arabia's economy apart from its reliance on oil, in an interview with local Saudi television.

The Crown Prince, commenting on the Al-Mudaifer Show to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the reform scheme, absolutely ruled out any attempts to introduce income taxes in the Kingdom.

"There would be no income taxes in Saudi Arabia," he says, adding that the maximum threshold for value-added tax (VAT) is 15% for a five-year term, which is a temporary measure.

Prince Muhammed Bin Salman announced that Aramco shares will be sold to international investors over the next year or two, adding that Aramco has the potential to become one of the world's largest manufacturing firms and that talks are currently ongoing to sell 1% of Aramco to a foreign investor.

The Crown Prince said that oil benefited Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom existed before the discovery of oil, which remains an important source of income; nevertheless, the Vision 2030 initiative was initiated to achieve goals for a robust economy and a better quality of life for Saudis by improving the economy with funds and investments.

In addition to urging the private sector to play a key role in achieving the vision's objectives, he announced negotiations with 30 Saudi companies under the "Shareek" initiative. He stressed that my focus is on achieving Saudi national development and citizen happiness under Vision 2030.

The Crown Prince stated that since the Public Investment Fund (the sovereign fund) hopes to expand into a large fund, its income will not be allocated to the state budget. It intends to expand the fund's size by more than 200 % over the coming five years.

The PIF is the Kingdom's latest "oil barrel," and the Crown Prince said that the fund's goal is to continue expanding. He clarified that the investment fund for the "Roshen" business, which seeks to increase the level of property development in the Kingdom and will provide one million housing units, has been created.

The Saudi Crown Prince discussed the Kingdom's vision, which was introduced in 2016, including improving housing strategies, regulations, and promoting an improvement in the private sector's contribution to the Kingdom's economy, and evaluating prominent economic statistics, most importantly the growth in the Saudi Stock Exchange Index (Tadawul).

The Crown Prince indicated that unemployment was 14 % before the vision and that it is expected to fall to 11 % this year. The rate will continue to fall until it reaches the natural rate of 7 % to 4%, he added, adding that the tourism sector's goals include 3 million new employments by 2030.

Regarding the quality of education in the Kingdom, the Crown Prince said that "the vision intends to provide three universities out of the 200 most relevant universities in the world," implying that educational opportunities have become available and the emphasis will be on capability growth plans.

In terms of health, Prince Muhammed Bin Salman said that the reform policy in the health sector would result in a significant improvement in the quality of services. Speaking of Riyadh, he said that the city has been well designed by King Salman and that it is one of the best cities in terms of infrastructure as compared to international cities with populations of more than 5 million, emphasizing that the priority would not be solely on Riyadh but the numerous cities in the Kingdom.

Concerning the Green Saudi Initiative and the Green Middle East, the Crown Prince said that Saudi Arabia's vegetation cover has risen by 40% in the last four years, adding that environmental interest has a direct effect on tourism and drawing investment.

The Crown Prince outlined the contours of the Kingdom's foreign policy, saying, "Our foreign policy purpose is Saudi Arabia's interests."

He said explicitly that Saudi Arabia would not acknowledge any external interference in its internal relations. He went on to say that the Kingdom is not frightened of anything and that the word "fear" does not exist in its vocabulary.

Saudi Arabia needs good ties with Iran, and the Kingdom's issue with Iran is its conduct, nuclear policy, and ballistic missiles, according to the Crown Prince, who added, "We hope we can fix the issues and enjoy close ties."

Concerning the Yemeni crisis, the Crown Prince said that he hopes to pursue a diplomatic settlement, emphasizing that the involvement of the Houthi militia at the negotiation table will be intolerable to the Kingdom.

“Undoubtedly, the Houthis have a strong friendship with the Iranian regime,” the Crown Prince said, “however at the end of the day, they are Arabs, and it is unavoidable that they would need to negotiate with their brothers to resolve this dispute.”