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Kevin Sullivan
Senior Correspondent for National and International Affairs
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Gathered under big domes and crystal chandeliers for a glitzy investment forum dubbed "Davos in the desert", business leaders on Tuesday described the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi as awful and sad, but said that this should not derail their negotiations with the United States. reports.
They knew that Saudi agents had killed Khashoggi three weeks ago at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. And they knew that their host, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was widely believed to be involved, despite official denials.
Famous brand sponsors and executives, including JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman and AOL founder Steve Case, pulled out in protest. The conference website was hamstrung on Monday by hackers dissatisfied with the killing of Khashoggi.
But thousands of people still came, in a wave of black Mercedes and Chevy Suburbans, across the huge stone arches of the conference center and past elegant fountains, security guards charged with a machine gun mounted at the top of a Dodge Ram pickup truck.
And when Mohammed arrived, they ovationed him.
US leaders interviewed at the conference said they were shocked by the grisly murder of Khashoggi. But they also said that trade relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia were too deep and too valuable to be disturbed by this situation.
An American leader who advises sovereign wealth funds said that although the Khashoggi affair was "shocking", it would only be a "hiccup" in the business world.
"You support your friends in good times and bad," said the executive. "Path [in Saudi Arabia] towards more openness and transparency, but there will be obstacles on the road. Like others, he spoke of the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
[Turkish president says murder of Jamal Khashoggi was ‘planned’]
Todd Albert Nims, a Texan who lives in Riyadh and runs a film production company, said that he was born in Saudi Arabia, son of an oil company executive and that he had spent the half of his life in the country.
Nims said the killing of Khashoggi, who had published opinion pieces in the Washington Post, was "horrible" but should not hurt relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
"It's not these people," he said. "Saudi Arabia has been a friend. They have been a huge stabilizer in this region. We should not throw everything on one thing. It's like a wedding. It's a day in the life of a wedding. "
President Trump said that the killing of Khashoggi was to be investigated, but he did not criticize Muhammad, who has close ties to Jared Kushner, his adviser and son-in-law. Trump said he did not want the incident to interfere with billions of dollars worth of arms sales to the United States in Saudi Arabia.
Reflecting on Trump's ambivalence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin canceled his scheduled appearance at the conference, but nevertheless traveled to Riyadh and sat down to take pictures with Mohammed on Monday.
On Tuesday, Mohammed posed for selfies with delegates and sat down with Jordan's King Abdullah at a round table.
Patrick Pouyanne of the French oil company Total and Paal Kibsgaard of the Texan company Schlumberger, the largest oilfield services company in the world, attended the conference.
The event, officially called the Future Investment Initiative, an annual meeting that began last year, was a feast of Saudi excesses.
It took place under the sandstone domes of the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center, in a large main hall where a large hard cover book titled "A Blueprint for the Twenty-Second Century" was waiting for each place.
[CIA director flies to Turkey amid controversy over Khashoggi killing]
When the lights went out in the packed house, an actor on stage danced with a luminous drone flying over him. A voice came from huge speakers, mentioning Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers and Mark Zuckerberg: "dreamers".
"The next generation of game changers is here in this room," the voice told the vast crowd.
The opening of the show was filled with loud music, laser lights and videos on big screens.
But for a moment, the big hall was also filled with Jamal Khashoggi.
Lubna Olayan, an influential Saudi business leader, stepped in to lead the first group discussion. But first, she told the audience that she knew the reporter and told him, "That he's resting in peace."
"I want to say to all our foreign guests, for whose presence we are here this morning, that we are very grateful, that the terrible acts reported in recent weeks are foreign to our culture and our DNA," he said. she said.
"And I am confident that with the support of the government, the relevant authorities and leaders, the truth will emerge. I am sure that we will grow and emerge stronger because of the crisis of recent weeks. "
When she was finished, timid applause rang out in the crowd, as if people were not sure whether it was okay to applaud during an investigation into a murder. But then the issue was taken seriously and she began to lead a group discussion on SWFs.
Many people seemed just as happy to find themselves in the cavernous halls outside, in the middle of long tables filled with fresh juices, coffee and pastries.
"Last year, there was a real air of intensity and emotion and the excitement was wall against wall. But this year has been a little suppressed, "said Tarik Solomon, a senior executive with the American group American Business Group in Riyadh.
Nevertheless, he said, there were "a lot of executives here and the contracts are still being passed".
Many people said that even though the Directors General had left office, most had sent lower-level leaders.
[Khashoggi death throws new light on Saudi prince’s crackdown on dissent]
In the crowded room, identification tags identified people from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. and China, China and China.
Americans were rarer.
"You are the first American I've seen!" Said an American officer when a reporter from Post made contact with him.
The Khashoggi case "is a Saudi affair at the end of the day," said a US financial services official on the East Coast.
"It's a shame, obviously, and we hope the regime will listen and change," he said. "But they do things their way here."
He also said that he thought the Khashoggi case was minimal compared to the huge amounts of investment and trade between the two countries. He said it would not be a problem in the long run.
"To know how the news works, next Wednesday, it will be something else," he said.
Nims, the film's producer, also expressed fears that Russia and China will benefit from American reluctance to do business in Saudi Arabia.
"As an American, I am afraid that Russia and China are taking advantage of this opportunity as Americans withdraw," he said.
Mark Garber, the Russian president of GHP Group, a Moscow-based investment company, smiled when asked whether Russia and China were ready to fill the void in Saudi Arabia if US companies were to leave. .
"I think there are real opportunities here. Many Americans have withdrawn, "he said.
However, later on the first day of the three-day conference, organizers announced that Saudi Aramco, a state-owned oil giant, had signed 15 memoranda of understanding worth $ 34 billion, including six with American companies.
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