First published in 1990. A country’s development does not take place in a vacuum and it was therefore essential in this earlier work that the main subject (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s development) should be set into an historical, political and social context. The original edition includes a summary of this background information, starting with the Kingdom’s geographical location and proceeding with a brief account of its history, its political importance and its role in the world economy. Within this context, is described the development and progress of what the Kingdom had achieved, outlining the country’s governmental structure, its administrative divisions, its available investment potential, its prevailing legal and commercial regulations, and its future plans and ambitions. This new book, which has been structured to encompass all aspects of the Kingdom’s development, contains the latest statistical data on the Kingdom’s progress, together with the newly revised background information of the former book. Thus each of the books complements the other, for each records the relevant information at a particular stage in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s continuing developmental process.