As part of the global economy, Saudi Arabia depends on trade, investments, and a multitude of other activities with the rest of the world. This Arab News editorial complains that most of the English-language websites operated by the Saudi government are rarely updated, even in critical areas like the Ministry of Commerce & Industry and the Ministry of Petroleum & Minerals. A few agencies—notably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Hajj, and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA)—do a better job.

Editorial: Out-of-Date Websites

The revelation that crucial Saudi government websites in English are hopelessly out of date is shocking. This flies in the face of all the plans to turn the Kingdom into a sophisticated, science- and technology-based economy. What hope of achieving that aim if ministries themselves are on a completely different wavelength? Not all of them, thankfully. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs website is well-run, spot up to date and relatively user-friendly. So too are those of the Haj Ministry and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority. But they are more the exception than the rule.

The most recent news story on the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s English website was posted in June last year. That of the Economy and Planning Ministry seems to be even more antiquated; it still shows projected economic statistics for 2005, suggesting that it has not been updated for nearly two years. The English website of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources likewise does not seem to have been updated since 2006. Meanwhile, that of General Authority for Civil Aviation is incomplete, poorly presented and user unfriendly — and its last monthly statistical report was for March 2007. It too is not being maintained.
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