His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (SFS ’68) delivered a lecture on modern Saudi Arabia, sponsored by the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies of the School of Foreign Service on [Wednesday night in ICC Auditorium](https://events.georgetown.edu/events/index.cfm?Action=View&CalendarID=347&EventID=71913).

The prince spoke of the Kingdom’s goal to halt growth of water-retentive crops such as wheat by 2016 because of the scarcity of fresh water in Saudi Arabia.

Though the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest exporter of oil, producing 12.5 million barrels of oil per day, Turki opted to focus on the Kingdom’s humanitarian projects.

“I am not an oil expert. The Kingdom is working to contribute to alternative energy sources that are workable and friendly to the environment and also to make oil and gas friendlier to the environment,” he said in response to an audience member’s question about Saudi Arabia’s uses of oil.

According to Turki, the Kingdom has been the top donor of humanitarian aid worldwide, as a result of donations such as a $1 billion gift given to the Republic of Yemen to boost the performance of the neighboring country’s economy.

Turki is one of the founding members of the King Faisal Foundation, created in honor of Turki’s father, the late King Faisal, who served as king until 1975.

After being appointed as an adviser to the Saudi Royal Court in 1973, Turki was appointed as ambassador to the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland in 2002 by the late King Fahd. In 2005, he was appointed to the role of ambassador to the United States and presented his credentials to former president George W. Bush on Dec. 2; he served as ambassador to the United States until his resignation in February 2007.”