This coming weekend, Saudi Arabia will shift its work week from Saturday through Wednesday to Sunday through Thursday.

This ought to be good for The Kingdom, more closely integrating it with the rest of the world. The business world, anyway.

Sunday through Thursday is what the rest of the Arab nations, here in the Gulf, works with. The UAE, for example: Friday and Saturday off.

Which leaves the UAE a day off from the fairly standard global “work week” of Monday through Friday.

In Saudi, though, the weekend was Thursday and Friday, which left it sharing only three work days with most of the rest of the world.

The move came after the shura council recommended the change to the king. The vote was 83-43, with the most deeply religious conservatives (Saudi has no religious liberals) in the minority, tut-tutting at the notion that their week might more closely resemble the Christian work week. And it now parallels Israel’s work week exactly.

Practicality won out, which we have to imagine is good for business. Saudi was open for business twice a week when most of the world was not. And closed two days a week when most everyone outside the Gulf was working.

Saudi was one of the last nation’s on Earth with a Saturday through Wednesday schedule. Apparently, Afghanistan and Yemen still are off on Wednesday and Thursday, but those are not exactly forward-thinking, 21st century nations.

Sunday through Thursday shouldn’t be too awful. They still have off Fridays, the most important day of the week for observant Muslims.

And now they have four work days in line with the rest of the world.