Consulum

As Saudi Arabia continues its economic transformation, focusing on domestic capacity in new sectors, its leaders are looking for partnerships that provide skills and knowledge transfer.   What does Saudi Arabia stand to gain from deepening economic ties with China and what international and domestic factors might stand in the way? Read the analysis from Consulum Chief Economist Duncan Mayall and economy and trade specialist Yifan Qin 秦依帆. Link in the comments. #Consulum #SaudiArabia #China #TradeandInvestment #SaudiVision2030 #BeltandRoadInitiative

By establishing policy innovation units in their offices, government ministers are empowered to move beyond the constraints of day-to-day management and engage in the kind of strategic thinking that leads to groundbreaking policies. But it’s not easy to set up a policy innovation unit for success and ensure that it delivers impact. Consulum uses this rigorous, step-by-step approach (see Fig) to guide Minister’s in creating policy innovation units that source the best ideas for innovation and overcome the typical barriers they might face in implementing them. In 'From managers to visionaries, how ministers can deliver greater change through innovative policymaking", Consulum Managing Partner James Davies, Head of Policy Innovation J. Rae Cho, PhD and policy expert Dilini H., explain how to apply this approach, and share their experience of working with governments that used policy innovation units to tackle some of the biggest challenges they faced.   Follow the link to the article in the comments.

Neil Pollock was recently promoted to Associate Director after joining Consulum as Senior Consultant in 2022. He excels at advising clients on strategic approaches to global stakeholder engagement and communications, helping them to navigate complex communications and policy environments. Neil joined Consulum after working in public affairs advisory for major private sector clients, as well as public health and policy research in the UK, and holds an Msc in International Relations Theory from the London School of Economics. As well as a respected work colleague, Neil is considered to be a driving force of some of the more adventurous Bahrain office social activities! 🏇

Diplomatic institutions are culturally and structurally different to the rest of government. What they do is often poorly understood by those working in the capital, and when government leaders attempt to judge effectiveness or drive improved performance, they often find that reform programmes that worked for domestic ministries fail to translate to foreign ministries and embassies. In this article, Consulum’s Head of Diplomatic Outcomes, Jolyon Welsh and Capacity Building experts David Bishop and Calum Bardsley team up to describe a systematic approach that helps governments to comprehensively assess their diplomatic institutions, and set in place reform programmes that drive operational effectiveness and deliver better international outcomes. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/dvjy6gjk

A deepening strategic relationship between Saudi Arabia and China offers vast opportunities for collaboration in technology, investment and trade.   But how far can Saudi Arabia’s pursue deepening ties with emerging powers like China, India and Brazil, while preserving longstanding relationships with Western Europe and North America?   Duncan Mayall and Yifan Qin 秦依帆 take a look at what each country stands to gain through and what, potentially, might stand in their way. Read here: https://lnkd.in/dHwGSRYG #SaudiArabia #China #TradeandInvestment

Consulum asked current and former ministers from the Middle East, the UK, Australia and Malaysia whether they had sufficient time and support to think creatively about public policy reform within their ministerial portfolios. Most ministers said they lacked the time and resources to think creatively about policy. Policy innovation is critical to ministerial success. Not just for the tangible outcomes it can deliver but also for the credibility it brings to the minister’s profile. How can ministers overcome time and resource restraints to seize this opportunity? Policy experts James Davies, J. Rae Cho, PhD, and Dilini H., share their experience working with government departments across the world to provide advice on how ministers can design and resource policy innovation units to drive breakthrough policy success. Read their article here: https://lnkd.in/dx4uhAUJ

This was a really interesting subject to research. I think there can be a bit of a tendency to see GCC-China ties through a US or Western lens, so one of the things we wanted to do here was to look at what is driving the relationship from a Saudi, and to a degree, Chinese perspective. A lot of people to thank on this one – first and foremost my coauthor and colleague Yifan Qin 秦依帆, without whose expertise I wouldn’t have tried writing this. Also, many thanks to those who gave their time and thoughts while we were researching this, particularly Robert Mogielnicki and Dr Naser al-tamimi (whose recent piece on the same subject covers slightly different ground and is definitely worth a read https://lnkd.in/eW_PRdjc). And, finally, as always, our design team have somehow managed to turn my scruffy word documents into something that looks fantastic! Look forward to hearing people’s thoughts.

To deliver security, prosperity and international influence for their countries, diplomatic institutions need to have a clear focus, highly functional structures, and efficient systems. How can governments drive improved institutional capacity to set clear goals and to deliver them? Jolyon Welsh, David Bishop and Calum Bardsley from Consulum’s Diplomatic Outcomes and Capacity Building practices outline a systematic approach for government leaders to assess the often opaque world of diplomatic institutions, and show how governments can take action to ensure these institutions achieve their most important international outcomes. Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/dmqNYpyy

Recently released trade data shows continued and diversifying trade and investment between Saudi Arabia and China, with Saudi imports from China more than doubling in absolute terms since the start of Vision 2030 (2016-2023).    As both countries pursue closer economic ties, Saudi Arabia must navigate growing global divisions between the West and China.   Consulum Chief Economist Duncan Mayall and economy and trade specialist Yifan Qin 秦依帆 take a look at recently released trade data to examine the Saudi-China relationship at this pivotal moment in their economic and strategic relationship.  Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/dqabsBsv #Consulum #SaudiArabia #China #TradeandInvestment #SaudiVision2030 #BeltandRoadInitiative

Consulum is delighted to welcome Ranulph Murray back to Consulum. As Head of Strategic Initiatives, Ranulph will help clients deliver new ways to drive impact.