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"I plan to go at this point, if more information comes out and changes, we could look at that, but I plan to go," Mnuchin told CNBC's Squawk Box. during an interview on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund. Annual meeting of CFOs and Central Bankers here.
Mnuchin's comments came as senior leaders and political leaders, as well as sponsors, left the conference, sometimes called "Davos in the desert," and were to be welcomed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh more late this month. CNN announced Friday that it would join the New York Times and others to cancel its partnership with the event.
The Trump administration, which has close relations with the Saudis, is facing increasing congressional pressure to reduce military support, immediately halt arms sales and impose sanctions on the Saudi government at the same time. Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, is missing. for more than a week after going to the Saudi Consulate General in Istanbul.
Turkish officials believe that he was killed at the consulate, an allegation denied by Saudi Arabia.
"We are concerned about Mr. Khashoggi's status," Mnuchin told CNBC, adding that other government officials had had direct conversations with the Saudi government on the issue.
"We all want information, let's wait and see what information will be released next week," Mnuchin added.
His comments echoed the cautious stance taken by other senior officials in the administration. In an interview published Friday, National Security Advisor John Bolton told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt: "We need to know the facts and quickly solve the problem because it's safe." 39 is another operation, people must understand that .I think the Saudis themselves are being damaged, because we do not have the facts in hand. "
This is the second year in a row that Mnuchin is attending the two-year-old Saudi conference. His public appearance is scheduled to coincide with a weeklong trip to the region, which includes stops in Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. During the planned visit, the secretary is expected to meet with government officials to discuss the financing of terrorism and other national security issues, according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance.
"Saudi is a very good partner," Mnuchin told CNBC. "I am committed to returning there once a year and it is one of the main goals of my trip."
Last year, the US government opened a joint center against terrorist financing with the Saudi government five months after Trump's trip to the region. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Quarter and the United Arab Emirates are also members of the group and agreed to share information on the financing of terrorism.
The secretary met with a dozen people on the sidelines of the Indonesian summit this week, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the head of China's central bank.
A finance ministry spokesman declined to give further details on the secretary's talks with the Saudi government, which were held on Thursday.
For now, the Trump administration said that there were too many unknowns to draw conclusions about what had happened. And Trump made it clear that he did not intend to end a multibillion-dollar deal negotiated last year.
"What does it do to us?" Trump told reporters the oval office.
"I would not be in favor of preventing a country from spending $ 110 billion – which is an all-time record – and letting Russia dispose of that money and give China that money," said Trump.
This did not stop companies from breaking their financial ties with the Saudi government.
British billionaire Richard Branson gave up two tourism projects and suspended talks with the Saudi government over a $ 1 billion investment in Virgin space companies.
"What would have happened in Turkey around the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, if it turned out, would clearly change the ability of all of us to do business with the Saudi government," said Branson, founder of the Virgin business empire, in a report.
Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, said that he would no longer attend the event unless very different facts emerge. The CEO of Viacom, Bob Bakish, one of the speakers at the conference, also chose not to participate in the event.
