Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative (FII) is bringing together the who’s who of global finance in Riyadh to talk shop, despite the icy chill hanging over Western relations.
Driving the news: The three-day event dubbed “Davos in the Desert” will welcome Wall Street’s biggest names, even though the White House would really rather they just stayed home, especially following the kingdom’s decision to cut global oil production through OPEC.
- JPMorgan’s Jaimie Dimon, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, and Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio are all ready to schmooze with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS).
- American companies had previously boycotted the event in 2018 following the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a move that Dimon said “achieved nothing.”
Why it matters: Attracting investment dollars has not been an easy task over the last year, given…you know, everything going on. As the old saying goes, “money talks,” thus, the world’s biggest dealmakers have become more reliant on tapping influential state funds.
- Saudia Arabia has the world’s fifth-largest sovereign wealth fund (US$620 billion), the G20’s fastest-growing economy, and a public image in great need of fixing.
- That kind of money helps bankers and venture capitalists turn a blind eye to things they may have seen before (like geopolitical tensions or human rights issues).
Zoom out: Saudi Arabia is also interested in both Western money–launched an initiative to attract US$10 billion in foreign investment–and labour as part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 campaign, through which it aims to modernize its economy and build the new city of Neom.