RIYADH – Top finance moguls and political leaders are present at the three-day Davos-style Saudi investment summit which started yesterday, in contrast to last year when outrage over critic Jamal Khashoggi’s murder sparked a mass boycott.
Organizers say 300 speakers from 30 countries, including American officials and heads of global banks and major sovereign wealth funds, are in the annual summit that seeks to project the insular kingdom as a dynamic investment destination.
A strong turnout at the Future Investment Initiative (FII), nicknamed “Davos in the desert”, would further rehabilitate de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s global image that was tainted by Khashoggi’s killing last October.
The murder at Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate triggered one of the top crude exporter’s worst crises and prompted a wave of business and political leaders to pull out the glitzy annual conference at the last minute.
But the event is set for a reboot this year as global outrage over the killing fades.
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi and Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro, leaders of key emerging markets, will speak at the summit along with King Abdullah II of Jordan and four African leaders.
United States (US) Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin leads a high-powered American delegation that includes Energy secretary Rick Perry and Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to President Donald Trump.
The chief executive officers of asset management firms Blackstone and SoftBank, as well as chairs of the sovereign wealth funds of Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Russia were expected to attend.
Top executives from blue chips Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, both working on the much-anticipated flotation of state oil behemoth Saudi Aramco, are on a long list of global bank representatives at the forum.
“This year’s FII is very different from last year,” said Ryan Bohl, from the US geopolitical think tank Stratfor.
“The sanctions threat over Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, which led to boycotts last year, is currently over. Many delegates this year have no qualms about getting close to Saudi.” (Agence France-Presse)
