Language

There’s no uniform system for transliteration between English and Arabic. As an example, names are often spelled inconsistently and vowels used interchangeably. Saudi’s never say no!

Business Climate and Relationships

Personal relationships are very important, as they need to know who they’re doing business with. Expect therefore to spend considerable  time getting to know your Saudi partners. Visitors should demonstrate loyalty and respect by kissing shoulder, hand or cheek. Meals start with coffee and small talk, and end abruptly.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project is an interactive database that allows users to explore public opinion trends in 55 countries on topics ranging from attitudes towards the U.S. to peoples assessments of their own lives to views about globalization, democratization and extremism and other important issues.

Saudi Arabia ranks as no. 80 (of 180 countries) on Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index.