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By: ZAHRAA ALKHALISI
Dubai- The investment conference in Saudi Arabia this week was, until recently, the most popular event in the fields of business and finance.
At present, the program has been stripped of any name and the list of speakers, who was once a "who's who" in the business world, has been extensively revised.
Most of the CEOs and financial leaders who were to participate in the Future Investment Initiative, nicknamed "Davos in the desert", have retired in the last 10 days after the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul . Turkey, 2 October.
The last to leave, after a thorough examination of conscience, was the CEO of Siemens, Joe Kaeser.
"Siemens has been a reliable partner for Saudi Arabia for decades … But for now, the truth has to be found and justice done," Kaeser said in a statement released on Monday.
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Saudi Arabia denied knowing what had happened to Khashoggi, but acknowledged Friday that the Washington Post columnist had died at the consulate. Members of King Mohammed bin Salman's inner circle were charged with his death.
The organizers of the conference say that the usual activity will be recorded at the beginning of the event on Tuesday. The website of the Future Investment Initiative promises that a detailed program for this three-day event will be "published soon".
Bin Salman will be the host of the conference. But, if you attend, you will find yourself facing a much less famous crowd than last year, when you used the conference to promote your Vision 2030 plan to reduce the dependence of the Saudi economy on regarding oil.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, is one of the other senior executives who have already retired. HSBC CEO John Flint; Blackrock CEO Larry Fink; and the CEO of Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde will not participate in the event either.
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"Khashoggi's problem has undermined the kingdom's reputation and increased political uncertainty," said Garbis Irian, chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa at the Institute of International Finance. . "[Las empresas] they could postpone or reduce the kingdom's trade agreements and adopt an attitude of maintaining the wait, "he added.
But the absence of important names will not prevent discussions about future business opportunities. Some companies send lower level executives. JPMorgan and HSBC will send representatives, even if their CEOs will not participate in the event. And FranckPetitgas, Morgan Stanley's international business manager, appears in the conference application as a speaker.
Others, such as Airbus, which has 1,000 employees in the kingdom, wish to keep the communication channels open despite the withdrawal of help from top executives.
The Russian Fund for Direct Investment (RDIF) – a sovereign fund – will lead a delegation that will include more than 30 Russian businessmen, leaders and officials.
"We appreciate the constructive dialogue and we are happy to share our experiences, identify new joint projects and discuss promising areas for the development of comprehensive cooperation between a wide range of Russian partners, from Saudi Arabia and other countries, "said KirillDmitriev, chief executive of the RDIF, in a statement Friday.
Germany has decided to suspend the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, but defense companies from other countries, including the United States, will participate in the conference. In an interview with CBS last week, President Donald Trump said he would not sanction Saudi Arabia because it could cost billions to companies like Boeing and Raytheon in arms and in jobs.
Thomas Kennedy, CEO of Raytheon, is one of the guest speakers at the event.
The leaders of the oil industry are also expected. The managing director of Total, Patrick Pouyanné, is on the list of speakers. His company signed an agreement earlier this month to begin work on a $ 5,000-million petrochemical complex in the kingdom.
But the kingdom's nascent relationship with the global technological world is under intense pressure and could be damaged.
At last year's conference, SoftBank's CEO, Masayoshi Son, was sitting next to Bin Salman when the prince announced his intention to create a $ 500 billion futuristic city, dubbed NEOM.
Son has also launched a $ 93 billion mega technology fund, nearly half of which comes from the Saudi government. He has already invested heavily in dozens of startups such as WeWork and Slack. They are already considering a second fund of this type. Now, it seems unlikely that this will happen.
Its international sales director, Marcelo Claure, and SonBank, have been mentioned until recently as speakers at the Saudi conference. They do not appear in the revised list either. The company has remained silent about their presence.
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The kingdom must urgently reverse the decline of foreign investment in order to diversify its economy and end up with what the Crown Prince has described as "dependence" on oil. As part of Vision 2030, Bin Salman wants to develop the private sector, boost tourism and reduce unemployment over the next decade.
The plan drew the attention of many international participants, including billionaire Richard Branson, who took advantage of the opportunities offered by two tourism projects and was in talks for a billion-dollar investment in his space company .
But Branson was one of the first to suspend relations with Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi disappeared and wondered if anyone in the West could continue to do business there.
Last year, many international investors were convinced that Saudi Arabia was ready to do business. It will be much harder to convince them this time.
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