Saudi soft power… The National sign

There are many terms for the national brand of countries, the founder of the national brand index of countries, expert Simon Anholt, defined it as a figurative term that shows how effective countries are in competing with each other to get a positive perception, whether it be in terms of exports, tourism, investment, culture and heritage, or lifestyle.

The national brand can also be defined as National Strategic and competitive plans that aim to stabilize the features and characteristics of countries, whether in their regions, cities or territories, and to exploit their resources, national wealth, culture, heritage, arts, and even the industries that are distinguished by them to build a distinctive and attractive reputation associated with the public mind, and compete with them at the international level to achieve their development aspirations.

The national brand with its various components has proven its results in raising the level of economic growth, investment and tourism in the countries and their regions, and some may move to permanent or temporary living in countries that enjoy the excellence of its national brand, as if the state creates clear specific features with strategic goals that are similar in planning to build the company for its brand to compete with other companies.

Great countries … It has many strategies to protect its national brand to promote its culture, traditions, values, resources, wealth, industries, assets and other cultural and economic components.

Over the past years, Saudi Arabia has witnessed the emergence of a new type of qualitative leadership thinking and diversified economic development planning, aimed at establishing a multi-source country in income.

The achievements of the “Saudi Vision 2030” had an impact on the formulation of the new national brand, which expresses Saudi soft power over the competition of world countries in promoting sustainable development, and obtaining advanced ranks in international development and economic reports.

The kingdom has advanced to the 19th place in soft power out of more than 120 countries according to the report of the latest “Brand Finance” Global Soft Power Report for 2023, and according to the report, seven factors contributed to the kingdom’s progress, five centers from 2022, the first of which is international relations led by His Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman .

According to the report, Saudi Arabia scored 51.3 points out of 100 points in the index, and the Kingdom ranked ahead of several countries with strong marks for years, such as Singapore, Finland and Belgium. The kingdom’s Vision 2030 came as the second factor in the kingdom’s progress, followed by governance in decisions and projects, and the fourth place was Saudi care for heritage and culture, which contributed to the kingdom’s progress over countries that have a well-known culture and history in the world, which is a source of important reputation globally, as well as Saudi progress in the field of media and communication. The sixth indicator that supported the kingdom’s progress was the sustainability that Saudi Arabia enjoys in its decisions, projects and vision, as it is considered a strong influencer in the progress of the index. The seventh indicator was trade and business, which is considered one of the strong indicators of Saudi Arabia, as it contributed significantly to the progress of the kingdom.

The Kingdom topped the Middle East countries in soft power, ahead of countries such as Qatar and Kuwait, and achieved advanced positions in the indicators of familiarity, fame, reputation, influence and international relations, so that through the report, Saudi Arabia received 5.8 scores out of ten in global relations, advanced in familiarity and fame by 6.3 and received a score of 6.2 in reputation and 5.4 in influence, also achieved 5.7 in trade and business, 4.4 in governance, 3.9 in heritage and culture, 3.6 in media and communication, 3.9 in the people and values index, and 5.1 in sustainability and finally I got a 3.3 in education and science.