The Government of Saudi Arabia has implemented a number of political and economic reforms to encourage political participation, promote economic growth, increase foreign investment and expand employment opportunities. The Kingdom has been updating and modernizing its academic curricula, and monitoring its religious schools. It is holding elections to streamline local government. In addition, the Kingdom is promoting its free market economy by privatizing twenty major state enterprises, establishing fourteen regulatory authorities to carry out reforms, improving foreign investment laws, revising a broad range of commercial laws and implementing intellectual property rights to foster innovation. The Kingdom is also becoming a more significant player in international trade by seeking membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

On February 10, 2005, elections for municipal councils took place in Riyadh Province, followed three weeks later by provinces in the east and south, and in April by provinces in the west and north. This groundbreaking move had been approved on October 13, 2003: to streamline local and municipal governments by introducing elections for half of the members of each municipal council to ensure that citizens have a strong voice in local affairs. This historic move is changing the hierarchical structure of municipalities in all of the provinces. The elections mark an important step in the Kingdom’s ongoing reform agenda.