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'Moderate Saudi Arabia': crown prince shakes up kingdom


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'Moderate Saudi Arabia': crown prince shakes up kingdomRiyadh (AFP) - Unveiling blueprints for a futuristic landscape with robots and driverless cars, Saudi Arabia's young crown prince outlined his most emphatic vision yet to transform the ultra-conservative kingdom as he sought to charm investors.

In a rare public appearance Tuesday at an investor summit in Riyadh -- dubbed "Davos in the desert" -- Mohammed bin Salman pledged a "moderate" Saudi Arabia, long seen as an exporter of a brand of puritanical Islam espoused by jihadists worldwide.

The speech came as the 32-year-old prince oversees reforms that mark the biggest cultural and economic shake-up in the kingdom's modern history, while sidelining powerful clergy who have long dominated the public discourse.

"We will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today and at once," Prince Mohammed told global business titans gathered in a chandelier-studded ballroom for the Future Investment Initiative.

MBS, as he is well known, promised his kingdom will return to "what we were before -- a country of moderate Islam that is tolerant of all religions and to the world".

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The new prince in town?

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