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| Country
Fact Sheet |
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Location
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Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf
and the Red Sea, north of Yemen
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Capital
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Riyadh
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Surface
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1,960,582 sq km
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Population
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26,417,599 people
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Currency
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Saudi riyal (SAR)
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GDP
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Purchasing
power parity - $310.2 billion (2004 est.)
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GDP/capita
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Purchasing
power parity - $12,000 (2004 est.)
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Language
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Arabic
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Religion
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Muslim 100%
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Government
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Monarchy
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Time
Zone
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GMT +3 hours
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Telecom
Code
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+966
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Airport
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Dammam-King Fahd International Airport (DMM/OEDF)
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Driving
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On right hand side of the road, license
required
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Electrical
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110~120V/ 220V, 60Hz
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Political
climate
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Stable country
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| Local
Business & Service Providers |
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Financial
services
Legal and fiduciary
Financial
Technology
Business travel
Image identity Consultancy
Corporate incentives
Automotive services
Accommodations
Lifestyle |
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| History |
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| In
1902, ABD AL-AZIZ bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud captured
Riyadh and set out on a 30-year campaign to unify
the Arabian Peninsula. A son of ABD AL-AZIZ rules
the country today, and the country's Basic Law stipulates
that the throne shall remain in the hands of the
aging sons and grandsons of the kingdom's founder.
Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Saudi
Arabia accepted the Kuwaiti royal family and 400,000
refugees while allowing Western and Arab troops
to deploy on its soil for the liberation of Kuwait
the following year. The continuing presence of foreign
troops on Saudi soil after Operation Desert Storm
remained a source of tension between the royal family
and the public until the US military's near-complete
withdrawal to neighboring Qatar in 2003. The first
major terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia in several
years, which occurred in May and November 2003,
prompted renewed efforts on the part of the Saudi
government to counter domestic terrorism and extremism,
which also coincided with a slight upsurge in media
freedom and announcement of government plans to
phase in partial political representation. A burgeoning
population, aquifer depletion, and an economy largely
dependent
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