Top Wall Street executives and American business leaders won’t be deterred by a public dispute between the two countries from attending a major investment event starting on Tuesday where the monarchy will look for partnerships to lessen its dependency on oil.
In response to an OPEC+ agreement this month to reduce oil output targets, which Riyadh defended as promoting market stability, President Joe Biden has threatened ‘consequences’ for U.S.-Saudi relations.
The dispute was the most recent cloud to hang over the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII), which has since suffered from the pandemic in 2020 and a Western boycott over the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, making it very different from the inaugural event that Riyadh dubbed ‘Davos in the Desert’ in 2017.
After the controversy over Khashoggi’s murder by Saudi agents in 2019, FII revived, attracting prominent figures from the financial, defence, and energy sectors with key stakes in the top oil exporter in the world, although it only attracted a small amount of foreign capital.
According to Richard Attias, CEO of the FII Institute, more than 400 American delegates are anticipated to participate this week, making it the largest foreign country delegation ever.
As speakers at the event this year, which takes place from October 25 to 27, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Pimco Vice Chairman John Studzinski, and a BNY Mellon executive still want to go, according to Reuters.
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