The two holy mosques of Makkah and Madinah have a capacity of 2.7 million people(1.5 +1.2m)

Saudi Arabia is the home of two of Islam's holy sanctuaries: Makkah the Blessed and Madinah the Radiant.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, enclosing the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, completes the trio of venerated shrines in the Islamic world.

To Saudi Arabia, caring for the holy cities of Makkah, the birthplace of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, and Madinah, the Prophet's burial place, is a sacred trust exercised on behalf of all Muslims.

The Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah

Recognizing the unique and historic tradition these holy sites represent, King Fahd bin Abdulaziz adopted the official title of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques as an expression of his deep sense of responsibility toward Islam.

Saudi Arabia's dedication to Islam is demonstrated by its superb maintenance and expansion of the holy sites, enabling greater numbers of Muslim pilgrims to perform the Hajj. This has always been an essential priority for the Kingdom.

Every year funds from the annual budget are allocated exclusively for this purpose. The Ministry of Pilgrimage, in conjunction with other government agencies, oversees the annual logistical challenge of preparing for the Hajj and supports projects in the Kingdom and abroad that promote Islam's role in
the community.

Beginning with the late King Abdulaziz, Saudi leaders have directed a series of ongoing projects aimed at improving the quality of accommodation, health care and other services for the pilgrims. An essential component of this policy has been the expansion of the Holy Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah.

At the time of Saudi Arabia's unification in 1932, the Holy Mosque could accommodate 48,000 worshipers and the Prophet's Mosque 17,000. A series of expansion plans, the latest of which was completed in 1992, increased the capacity of the two holy mosques to more than one million and over half a million, respectively. Under the personal direction of King Fahd, the work also improved the infrastructure and services necessary to enable the millions of pilgrims to carry out their religious observances in comfort and safety.

This has included new airport and port facilities in Jeddah and other points of entry for pilgrims, roads to Makkah and Madinah, comfortable accommodations and an extensive health care network.

It is an effort that is ongoing, with improvements each year that have included the installation of fire-proof tents and the provision of telecommunication facilities.

As part of the Kingdom's efforts to better serve Muslim pilgrims, whose numbers are expected to continue to increase, in 1993 King Fahd restructured the Ministry of Pilgrimage and Endowments into two separate organizations--the Ministry of Pilgrimage, which deals exclusively with the Hajj, and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance.

The vast financial and human resources Saudi Arabia has committed to the Hajj reflect the dedication of the leadership and citizens of the Kingdom to the service of Islam and the holy sites and to preserving them as a haven of peace for all Muslims.

ENERGY SECTOR
Saudi Arabia has over 250 billion barrels of oil reserves Saudi Arabia is world's largest exporter of oil and natural gas More than a quarter of the world's proven oil reserves lay beneath the sands and offshore waters of Saudi Arabia.

The discovery of these reserves and the building of the necessary facilities to make possible their use have made the Kingdom the world's largest exporter of oil and natural gas. This has enabled Saudi Arabia to bring about one of the greatest physical transformations achieved by any nation in such a short time.

Since the introduction of the first five-year development plan in 1970, Saudi Arabia has spent about a trillion U.S. dollars, generated largely through the sale of oil and its products, to establish a sophisticated infrastructure and modern educational and health facilities.

The existence of such vast hydrocarbon deposits within its territory has bestowed on Saudi Arabia a unique role.

In response, the Kingdom has adopted an energy policy based on a commitment to maintain stability in world markets.

The country has focused on the development of its energy and mineral resources. Natural gas that was once flared off is now collected and utilized.

The Kingdom has become a producer of refined oil products and petrochemicals, such as diesel oil and kerosene as well as gasoline.

In addition, with discoveries of deposits of precious and semi-precious metals, Saudi Arabia expects to become a major exporter of minerals in the coming decades. All of these resources, along with programs to diversify the country's sources of energy, are being developed to build a stronger and more resilient economy. Saudi Arabia has over 250 billion barrels of oil reserves. In 1933, Saudi Arabia's founder King Abdulaziz bin Abdelrahman Al-Saud granted the now-historic right to the Standard Oil Company of California (SOCAL) to prospect for oil in the Kingdom.

In 1938, after more than four years of searching, geologists discovered commercially-exploitable quantities of oil at Dammam Oil Well Number 7. The next year, the King himself opened the valve to allow oil to flow into the first tanker at Ras Tanura. In 1944, the oil company was renamed the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). By 1949, Aramco was producing 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day, up from 20,000 before 1944.

Crude oil production increased by an average of 19 percent a year from 1945 through 1974 - reaching 8.2 million barrels a day that year.

Over the years, the Saudi government assumed an increasingly important role in the oil industry.

In 1962, the General Petroleum and Minerals Organization (PETROMIN) was established to develop Saudi Arabia's oil and mineral resources. In 1980 the government assumed full ownership of Aramco, renaming it Saudi Aramco. The first Saudi president was appointed in 1984.

Today, Saudi Arabia's proven oil reserves are estimated at over 250 billion barrels. Most of the Kingdom's known oil reserves are located in the Eastern Province, including the largest onshore field in Ghawar and the largest offshore field, Safaniya, in the Arabian Gulf. However, the introduction of improved recovery technologies, such as horizontal drilling, and discoveries in other regions of the country has been substantially increasing the Kingdom's proven oil reserves.

In the early 1990s, Saudi Aramco undertook exploration of parts of the country where a search for oil had never before been undertaken. In central Saudi Arabia, the company discovered major deposits of natural gas and oil, including sweet, low-sulfur grades of crude. One of the greatest benefits of Saudi Arabia's modern development is its ability to fulfill the Islamic obligation of caring for its citizens.

HEALTH & SOCIAL SECTOR
Today, the Kingdom provides its citizens with high quality medical services and housing, ensures the safety and wellbeing of workers and their families, and provides education for all from kindergarten through university.

Shortly after establishing the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, one of the first initiatives of King Abdulaziz bin Abdelrahman Al-Saud was to improve the health care facilities for citizens and the pilgrims who come to Saudi Arabia to visit the Islamic holy sites.

Another milestone in this same tradition was the government's decision to furnish free medical treatment.

To achieve this goal, each administrative region in the Kingdom set up its own medical facilities and within a relatively short time, once-endemic diseases such as malaria and smallpox were virtually eradicated, the infant mortality rate was drastically reduced and life expectancy rose sharply.

Beginning with the introduction of the first of the five-year Development Plans in 1970, the Saudi health care system underwent a dramatic quantitative and qualitative improvement.

Even as the modern network of health care and social services was expanded across the entire country, technology was continually updated to incorporate the latest medical advances.

Today, Saudis have access to a network of thousands of hospitals and clinics across the country and are no longer obligated to travel abroad to obtain specialized medical treatment.

Sophisticated surgical procedures such as open heart surgery and organ transplants are routinely performed in various Saudi hospitals to the highest international standards.

Communication & Transportation Sector The transport and communication networks installed in the last two decades of the 20th century have enabled Saudi Arabia to assume a significant and growing role in global economic and political affairs.

As the Kingdom's population increases and the pace of life becomes ever more rapid, the country will continue to harness the benefits of the communications revolution to improve the quality of life of its citizens.

For thousands of years, merchants, pilgrims and Bedouins have been traveling the ancient trade and caravan routes of the Arabian Peninsula. Traversing the length and breadth of this huge landmass, however, entailed great expenditure of time and risks to life and property.

Passage through the vast deserts was possible only during the cooler hours of the day and less harsh seasons of the year.

But the times when crossing the peninsula demanded a month or more of arduous travel have now faded into history. Today, a modern network of inter-city roads, towns at far ends of the Kingdom are only hours apart. In addition, all parts of the country are now linked by highly advanced telecommunication and postal systems integrated with global networks. The swift movement of both people and freight has been particularly vital to modernize such a large and sparselypopulated country.

During the course of the first four Development Plans (1970-89), special emphasis was placed on the overall improvement of the Kingdom's transportation infrastructure.

Saudi Arabia now possesses one of the finest national transportation networks and most sophisticated communication systems in the world. The great distances between cities and the rugged terrain of much of the country make these achievements all the more remarkable. Transport and communication links have helped Saudi Arabia bring prosperity to its remotest regions. With far-reaching vision, Saudi Arabian leaders starting with King Abdulaziz bin Abdelrahman Al-Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, have understood the critical importance of roads, railroads, air travel and telecommunications for building a modern nation.

A testament to the progressive approach of the nation's leadership, the infrastructure they established continues to reinforce national unity, while providing a base for future economic and national development Within the Arab world, the Kingdom, which has worked tirelessly to create and enhance Arab solidarity, has persistently pursued a policy designed to resolve disputes by diplomatic means.

KSA FOREIGN POLICY
In its relations with the major industrialized powers (the United States of America, Western Europe and Japan), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has always recognized the economic interdependence which must exist between those who need oil and the country which holds 25% of the world's oil reserves, and has endeavored to stabilize the oil price at a level which takes account of the needs of both net producers and net consumers.

At the same time, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is part of the Arab world and, above all, has been entrusted with the guardianship of the Holy Places of Islam. Both its Arab and its Muslim heritage mean that its basic political tenets and its foreign policy objectives are sometimes not co-incident with those of other political and economic power blocs.