Due to my personal and professional experience, I have had the chance to travel all around Latin-America in countries such as Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. I have personally confirmed that the nations of Latin American region not only share a common history but still now have shared values and ways of thinking. As a consequence, the whole area is very similar in ways of managing businesses, government, culture and even legal structures. This not only means that we share a common language (except Brazil) but also means that any issue of any country in the region could easily affect the others.

Considering the above, the first similarity I want to highlight between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”) and Latin-America is the fact that KSA is also part of a vast region that has a common background, religion, and even language. The "Arab world" reminds me of Latin America. This Arab world is conformed by a group of countries that share a familiar common ground that will always connect them no matter the legal boundaries or political issues. Therefore, KSA has the same sensibility for what is happening in Palestine or Syria, it has been affected directly or indirectly from those conflicts. Having the chance of discussing with HRH Prince Turki Alfaisal Alsaud make me understand that KSA has received many migrants from the conflicted countries of the area and is an active supporter of Palestine in its well-known conflict with Israel. Those two simple examples can be easily assimilated with the current migration crisis of Venezuelans all over Latin-America, and how a country as Colombia has supported this population issuing resolutions to legalize and nationalize childhood of this affected population1.

Moreover, from a cultural perspective, I was impressed of the close relationship between KSA and Latin-America. The importance of family and religion is common ground, worth it to be mentioned. Regarding family, it was interesting to see how every speaker mentioned a family member at least once or, if it was not directly mentioned, you could quickly feel how the family comes first in KSA's culture. Latin-America is the same. We even have the saying: “family comes first” and tend to also keep in touch with indirect family due to events and festivities where we meet in an elder's place.

Likewise, the great importance of religion is an interesting similarity. Although in Latin America, the governmental system is separated from the church, it is not a secret that the population is very devoted to Catholicism or Christianity. This means that many of our traditions are related to religion, and our type of living and even dress is also influenced by spirituality. An excellent example of the above is the fact that many Latin-Americans tend to have a rosary bead or wear a chain with a cross or an image a Saint. This is very similar to the way that Islam is present in the daily life of KSA's people. For instance, when I first saw the Misbaha, I immediately reminded the rosary bead. Although it is clear to me that KSA has a governmental system that is well connected to religion, this characteristic and its consequences produce more similarities than differences between us.

Lastly, I would like to point out two key subjects that are not the only similarity but also are significant matters in the current global situation: (i) Women’s empowerment and (ii) Diversification of an economy that has Oil & Gas as primary source. Regarding women's rights and their role in society, I was delighted to have the chance to meet Mrs. Khlood A. Aldukheil and Mrs. Hoda Abdulrahman Al Helaissi. Both are outstanding examples of how currently KSA empowers women into essentials positions in both the private and the public sectors. Now in Latin-America women are experiencing a boost on their place in society, feminist movements claiming for the protection of women and equality are more popular than ever2 and the private and public sector have been experiencing a significant increase of women leadership and participation3. For instance, this past decade, several of the Latin American countries were governed by female leaders such as Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, Laura Chinchilla in Costa Rica, Cristina Fernandez in Argentina, Michelle Bachelet in Chile.4

Not entering into any political analysis or view about their government, the real fact here is that women are having a boom in Latin-America that could be easily assimilated with what is happening in KSA: an increasing active role of women in the development of the country.

Furthermore, the diversification of the economy was a critical point that called much of my attention. This is a matter that Colombia (as a Latin-American country) has in common with the KSA. We both share the fact that our economic system is highly dependent on Oil & Gas, and we are also on the same path to face this situation. Colombian current government is pushing forward a project called: "Orange economy," which is defined as: “the bringing together of sectors of the economy "whose main purpose is the production or reproduction, promotion, dissemination and/or the marketing of goods, services and activities that have cultural, artistic or patrimonial content" according to UNESCO”.5 This project is very similar to part of KSA's Vision 2030 because both governments are looking for ways to generate more international investment and support other types of industries that could help to the development of the country. Again, far from being different, we share common challenges and issues that our governments are addressing.

To conclude, after this Gateway KSA experience, I learned that KSA and Latin-America have more similarities than differences. We could easily understand each other and support each other to grow and develop positively. Latin-America is still an unexplored territory for KSA in many ways, recalling HRH Prince Turki Alfaisal Alsaud explanations: KSA’s investors have reached Argentina and Brazil. However, the rest of the region is a vast ground of opportunities between us.

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My name is Ricardo Rincon. I am a Colombian lawyer, currently a student of the Master of Laws (LL.M.) at Cornell Law School. Before going to Cornell, I worked at Baker McKenzie (Colombia) as an associate of the Dispute Resolution team. I also had the chance to be the Regional Manager (LATAM) of Ethics & Compliance for a multinational named Orica.

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