Can one person write an entire encyclopedia? Let's not talk about all the diversity of the world, not about one continent, not about any people, but at least about one country? But only in such a way that it is really an encyclopedia, meticulously and in detail describing the nature, customs and customs of people, the economy and culture of the state, etc., etc.? Describing it in such a way that it is, as they say, "neither subtract nor add", so that it is simply impossible for other authors who have taken up the same topic to add at least something to this capital work?

I confess that until recently I would have considered this absolutely impossible, impossible for one person, no matter how deep knowledge of a particular country he had. But today I have in my hands a book that-without any exaggeration and completely without discounts - can be called the "encyclopedia of one state". The book is called " Saudi Arabia. XXI century in the homeland of Islam: from the "world gas station" to the "laboratory of innovation and excellence". Author-K. P. Dudarev (Moscow, publishing house "Nedra". 2015, 420 p.).

The genre of the work is difficult to determine. On the one hand, this" super-exhaustive "reference book is about the country, and describing it as an "encyclopedia" does not look like an exaggeration. On the other hand, it is a fascinating read that opens up a lot of information and facts about the rapidly developing state, about which we in Russia, in fact, do not know much. "...Saudi Arabia, the author writes, is one of the unique, unlike other states, which managed to combine the seemingly incompatible and live in two dimensions - in the early Middle Ages, when one of the three world religions, Islam, was born on the territory of this country, and at the same time in the XXI century, quickly adopting and adapting to its technical achievements."

The secret of the encyclopedic level of this very voluminous (35.5 accounting and publishing sheets) work is in the subtitle to the book: "From personal experience of working and living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia".

Indeed, the author has lived in this country for more than 10 years, mainly doing business and helping Russian entrepreneurs enter Saudi markets. But the KSA must have attracted the attention of a man who has many guises - not only a businessman, but also a journalist, an Oriental scholar-much earlier, when in the 1970s and 1980s he worked for 15 years as the head of the TASS Branch in Egypt, and then in Algeria, and was one of the leaders of the Arab League. editorial offices and editorial offices of the Near and Middle East of TASS.

K. P. Dudarev probably spent many years in his spare time keeping diary entries and collecting dossiers about the Kingdom, which, in particular, is confirmed by a long - more than a dozen and a half-list of newspapers and magazines, the materials of which were used in the study.

a book that is very clearly structured.

Approximately half of the 28 chapters have a pronounced application character - they are mainly recommendations to Russian businessmen who want to establish business ties with companies in Saudi Arabia: "Preparing for a trip to Saudi Arabia", "Rules of conduct, customs and customs that you should know", "Features of doing business in Saudi Arabia", "Living conditions of foreigners", "Forms of presence of foreign companies in the KSA market" , etc.

The second half of the chapters is devoted to individual industries and socio-economic life of the country: "Mining industry", "Transport Infrastructure", "Agriculture", "Healthcare", "Foreign Trade", "Education", "Tourism and Sightseeing", etc. Each chapter has several sections, and key terms and names of various local organizations and companies are highlighted in bold for ease of reading.

Naturally, the Russian author pays quite a lot of attention to the common things that exist between our countries. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia are solving the same problems related to getting rid of commodity dependence and diversifying the economy based on modern innovations. The similarity between our countries is that one has the largest gas reserves in the world, while the other has the largest oil reserves. Each of the two countries has a lot to learn from each other.

A number of Russian companies have made notable gains in the Saudi market, but there have also been some that have failed. The author analyzes the reasons for these failures and gives practical advice on how best to prepare for a trip to Saudi Arabia and reach mutual understanding in negotiations.

In particular, it is very important to know the traditions and rules of behavior that have developed in the Arabian Peninsula, the norms of etiquette, on the observance or non-observance of which the success of a newcomer in this very specific market largely depends. Truly, if" The East is a delicate matter", then working in Saudi Arabia is a" delicate matter " squared...

The book describes the dynamic development of a number of sectors of the KSA economy - this experience is of undoubted interest to specialists and entrepreneurs in many sectors of the Russian economy. This includes, in particular, the oil production, refining, petrochemical industry, gas production and processing, mining, aluminum production, modernization and expansion of transport infrastructure, construction of highways, airfields, seaports, and the use of solar energy.

Russian readers will learn from the book about various aspects of the investment attractiveness of the Kingdom, with new "economic cities" and industrial clusters, universities and research centers.

The recommendations given in this book are not "theoretical calculations" or borrowings from printed sources. They are based on the author's own unique experience, who in the 1990s represented the first Saudi oil company to enter Russia, and then worked for a long time as the head of the first Russian company to enter the KSA market.

K. P. Dudarev was directly involved in many meetings with heads of state and private companies, Saudi officials, including members of the royal family, and also independently went all the way from the commercial registration of the branch in 2004 to the signing of the first-ever contract with Saudi Aramco for the construction of a large oil pipeline and its successful implementation. At the same time, the work of the Russian company was highly appreciated by the Saudi customer. Her successful work, in fact, paved the way for our other entrepreneurs in KSA and changed the previous ideas of Saudis, usually negative, about Russian business.

Of course, K. P. Dudarev's book does not claim to be one of the scientific studies of the processes taking place both in the Middle East as a whole and in individual states of the region. It is applied in nature. But in its structure, selection of materials, and extensive use of a variety of sources, including serious scientific literature, it is certainly close to the genre of research monographs, and the author has definitely established himself as a mature Oriental scholar, from whom one can expect other equally meaningful works on such a topical Middle Eastern topic today.

Dozens of books have been written in the United States and Western Europe about how to "do business" in Saudi Arabia. In Russia, the work of journalist, scientist and entrepreneur K. P. Dudarev is actually the only work on this topic. Fortunately, the work is thorough, serious and, as mentioned above, truly encyclopedic. It can serve as a comprehensive guide for Russian entrepreneurs, as well as businessmen from the CIS countries who want to establish business contacts with colleagues from Saudi Arabia, and for anyone who is simply interested in how this amazing, unlike other, dynamically developing state lives.

This, by the way, is confirmed by the brief review of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Honorary President of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.M. Vasiliev, reproduced on the fourth page of the cover.:

"The publication of the book makes up for the lack of information about this important neighboring country, reveals the potential for cooperation and is of undoubted interest both for the business circles of Russia and the CIS countries, and for a wide range of readers."

N. I. PETROV

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