Future Investment Initiative

Last updated
Future Investment Initiative
Future Investment Initiative Logo.jpg
Organized byThe Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia
TypeInternational conference
FrequencyAnnual
Founded2017;4 years ago (2017)
Location Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Topics
Next event27-28 January, 2021
Website futureinvestmentinitiative.com

The Future Investment Initiative (FII) is an annual investment forum held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss trends in the world economy and investment environment. It is hosted by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF). The first event was in October 2017 and featured the announcements of the launch of NEOM, a proposed $500bn independent economic zone in the northwest of Saudi Arabia.

Contents

The second event was in 23-25 October 2018. The third event took place on 29-31 October 2019. [1]

Background

The Future Investment Initiative was announced in September 2017 by the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's main sovereign wealth fund, in the context of the Saudi Vision 2030 program of economic and social reform. [2] [3]

The first Future Investment Initiative event took place in Riyadh from October 24 to October 26, 2017, [4] under the patronage of King Salman of Saudi Arabia. [2] [3] The conference hosted 3,800 attendees from 90 countries, involving major investors, chief executives, public officials, and economists. [5] [6] Notable participants included the managing director of the IMF Christine Lagarde, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, and Japanese business magnate Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank. [7] [8] [6]

Themes discussed included artificial intelligence, big data, cryptocurrencies, and climate change. [9] [10] [11] [12] In an address to the conference, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said Saudi Arabia was returning to a more moderate form of Islam “open to all religions and to the world”. [13]

The event was colloquially referred to by some media and commentators as "Davos in the Desert". The World Economic Forum, which organises the annual conference held in Davos, Switzerland, has objected to the use of "Davos" in such contexts for any event not organised by them. [14]

Announcements

The Public Investment Fund announced several major plans at the conference, including its goal to increase its assets under management to $400 billion by 2020. The fund outlined how it would structure its investments in six areas: Saudi equity holdings, sector development, real estate and infrastructure, mega projects, international strategic investments, and a “diversified pool” across global asset classes. [15]

The Public Investment Fund also announced several major investments, including the finalisation of its participation in a $40 billion infrastructure fund set up with the US private equity firm Blackstone, and a memorandum of understanding to invest $1 billion in Virgin space companies. [16] [17]

Among the projects announced at the conference was NEOM – a proposed $500bn economic zone covering 26,000 square kilometres in northwest Saudi Arabia, extending into Jordan and Egypt. [18] [19] The project aims to attract investment in sectors including renewable energy, biotechnology, robotics and advanced manufacturing. [20]

Further ‘giga projects’ presented at the 2017 event included Qiddiya, a multi-billion dollar entertainment resort; and the Red Sea project, a planned luxury resort across 50 islands on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. [21] [22] [23]

2018 conference

In May 2018 the Public Investment Fund announced plans for the second edition of the Future Investment Initiative, to be held from October 23 to 25, 2018. [5] In August 2018 a team of business leaders were announced as members of a new FII advisory board, including Saudi businesswoman Lubna Olayan, MasterCard CEO Ajaypal Singh Banga, and the journalist and entrepreneur Arianna Huffington. [24]

Following the killing [25] in Turkey of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018, some speakers and sponsors who had planned to attend the event withdrew pending the outcome of investigations. [26] [27] These included Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, the president of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim, and Viacom CEO Bob Bakish. [28] [29] [30]

Media outlets including The New York Times , the Financial Times , CNBC, Bloomberg, and CNN withdrew as partners. [31]

Google also issued a statement stating that Google Cloud Chief Executive Diane Greene would not be attending Future Investment Initiative Summit in Riyadh. Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said amid the concerns over Khashoggi disappearance, Uber would not be a part of the summit. [32] [33]

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, The Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, and US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin [34] also withdrew from the conference. [35]

Related Research Articles

Saudi Aramco Saudi Arabian petroleum and natural gas company

Saudi Aramco, officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is a Saudi Arabian public petroleum and natural gas company based in Dhahran.

SoftBank Group Japanese conglomerate company

SoftBank Group Corp. is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in the technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vision Fund, the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund, with over $100 billion in capital, backed by sovereign wealth funds from countries in the Middle East.

Saudi Landbridge Project

The Saudi Landbridge Project is a planned railway project which forms part of the Saudi Railways Expansion Programme.

Russia–Saudi Arabia relations Diplomatic relations between Russia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Russia–Saudi Arabia relations is the bilateral relationship between Russian Federation and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The two countries are referred to as the two petroleum superpowers and account for about a quarter of the world's crude oil production between them.

Saudi Arabia–United Kingdom relations International diplomacy

According to the British government, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have long been close allies. The origins of the relations date back to 1848 when Faisal bin Turki, ruler of the Second Saudi state, formally requested the support of the British Political Resident in Bushire for his representative in Trucial Oman.

Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf

Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Assaf is a Saudi politician who served as finance minister, foreign minister, and state minister of Saudi Arabia.

Infrastructure-based economic development, also called infrastructure-driven development, combines key policy characteristics inherited from the Rooseveltian progressivist tradition and Neo-Keynesian economics in the United States, France's Gaullist and Neo-Colbertist centralized economic planning, Scandinavian social democracy as well as Singaporean and Chinese state capitalism: it holds that a substantial proportion of a nation’s resources must be systematically directed towards long term assets such as transportation, energy and social infrastructure in the name of long term economic efficiency and social equity.

Mohammed bin Salman Saudi crown prince and minister of defence

Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, colloquially known as MBS, is a Saudi politician who has been the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia since 21 June 2017. He is currently serving as the country's deputy prime minister and is also Chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs, Chairman of the Council of Political and Security Affairs, and Minister of Defense – the world's youngest at the time of his appointment. He controls the government of his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz. In June 2017 King Salman removed his nephew Muhammad bin Nayef from the position of crown prince and appointed Mohammed bin Salman in his place.

King Abdullah Financial District

The King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) is a new development under construction near King Fahad Road in the Al Aqeeq area of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia being undertaken by King Abdullah Financial District Development and management Company which is wholly owned by Public Investment Fund(PIF) of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Previously it was being managed by the Rayadah Investment Corporation on behalf of the Pension Authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Public Investment Fund Sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia

The Public Investment Fund is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of $430 billion. It was founded for the purpose of investing funds on behalf of the Government of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia aims at transferring the PIF from a mere local authority to the largest sovereign fund in the world. Thus, PIF is working on managing assets worth $400 billion by 2020. The PIF has a portfolio made up of approximately 200 investments, of which around 20 are listed on Tadawul, the Saudi Stock Exchange.

Saudi Vision 2030 Strategic framework in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Vision 2030 is a strategic framework to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation, and tourism. Key goals include reinforcing economic and investment activities, increasing non-oil international trade, and promoting a softer and more secular image of the Kingdom. It also consists of increasing government spending on the military, as well as manufacturing equipment and ammunition.

2017 United States–Saudi Arabia arms deal

On May 20, 2017, U.S. President Trump and Saudi Arabia's Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud signed a series of letters of intent for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to purchase arms from the United States totaling US$110 billion immediately, and $350 billion over 10 years. The intended purchases include tanks, combat ships, missile defense systems, as well as radar, communications and cybersecurity technology. The transfer was widely seen as a counterbalance against the influence of Iran in the region and a "significant" and "historic" expansion of United States relations with Saudi Arabia.

MiSK Foundation

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Foundation is a non-profit foundation established by Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2011 to develop and empower Saudi youth to become active participants in the future economy of the region. MiSK specifically focuses on four key areas: education, creative and digital media, technology, and culture and arts. It pursues this agenda both through its own programs, and through partnerships with local and global organisations.

Neom Planned city in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

Neom is a planned cross-border city in the Tabuk Province of northwestern Saudi Arabia. It is planned to incorporate smart city technologies and also function as a tourist destination. The site is north of the Red Sea, east of Egypt across the Strait of Tiran, and south of Israel and Jordan. It will cover a total area of 26,500 km2 (10,200 sq mi) and will extend 460 km along the coast of the Red Sea.

Abdullah Alswaha

Abdullah bin Amer Alswaha is the current Minister of Communications and Information Technology in Saudi Arabia. His ministry is responsible for developing Saudi Arabia's ICT infrastructure and workforce as part of the country's Vision 2030 programme. He was previously managing director of Cisco Saudi Arabia.

The following lists events in the year 2019 in Saudi Arabia.

Hadley Gamble is an American CNBC anchor based in Abu Dhabi.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan Saudi business personality

Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan is a Saudi business personality who is Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Chairman of Saudi Aramco. He also sits on the boards of the transportation network company Uber Technologies Inc. and the Japanese multinational SoftBank Group. On 24th June, 2021 Reliance Industries Ltd announced he will join their board of directors as an Independent director.

The assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, journalist for The Washington Post and former general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel, occurred on 2 October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and was denounced by the majority of the international community.

The SoftBank Vision Fund is a venture capital fund founded in 2017 that is part of the SoftBank Group. With over $100 billion in capital, it is the world's largest technology-focused investment fund. In 2019, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 was founded. The total fair value of both funds as of 31 March 2021 was $154 billion.

References

  1. ↑ "Saudi Arabia reveals plans for third Future Investment Initiative gathering". Arab News. 2019-06-28. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  2. 1 2 "PIF announces Future Investment Initiative". Saudi Gazette . 19 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Saudi Arabia Launches Future Investment Initiative". Forbes Middle East. 18 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  4. ↑ "Saudi to launch Future Investment Initiative event". Arab News . 18 September 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Saudi Arabia's PIF forms FII advisory board of international executives". The National . 29 August 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  6. 1 2 Gosden, Emily; Hipwell, Deirdre; Lea, Robert (24 October 2017). "Saudi Arabia: Oiling the wheels of economic change". The Times . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  7. ↑ Lovelace, Jr., Berkeley (24 October 2017). "BlackRock CEO Fink says investors should expect just 4% returns over the next 10 years". CNBC . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  8. ↑ Balakrishnan, Anita (25 October 2017). "SoftBank's Masayoshi Son aims to control 90% of the chip market". CNBC . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  9. ↑ Clifford, Catherine (25 October 2017). "Billionaire CEO of SoftBank: Robots will have an IQ of 10,000 in 30 years". CNBC . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  10. ↑ Reid, David (24 October 2017). "Mastercard's boss just told a Saudi audience that 'data is the new oil'". CNBC . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  11. ↑ Kharpal, Arjun (26 October 2017). "People are 'underestimating' the 'great potential' of bitcoin, billionaire Peter Thiel says". CNBC . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  12. ↑ "'We will be toasted, roasted and grilled': IMF chief sounds climate change warning". The Guardian . 25 October 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  13. ↑ Meredith, Sam (25 October 2017). "Saudi Arabia promises a return to 'moderate Islam'". CNBC . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  14. ↑ Bosley, Catherine (22 October 2018). "WEF Condemns Use of 'Davos' Label One Day Before Saudi Summit". Bloomberg News . Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  15. ↑ Paul, Katie (25 October 2017). "Eyeing $400 billion, Saudi wealth fund aims to nearly double size by 2020". Reuters . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  16. ↑ "Saudi's PIF commits $20 bln to $40 billion fund with Blackstone". Reuters . 24 October 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  17. ↑ "Saudi Arabia to invest $1bn in Virgin space companies". The Guardian . 26 October 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  18. ↑ Hipwell, Deirdre (25 October 2017). "Saudis to build £500bn city of the future in desert". The Times . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  19. ↑ Al Omran, Ahmed; Kerr, Simon; Raval, Anjli (24 October 2017). "Saudis aim to diversify economy with new $500bn city". Financial Times . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  20. ↑ Wachman, Richard (24 October 2017). "Robots to roam $500 billion Saudi city". Arab News . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  21. ↑ "Saudi futuristic vision dazzles corporate honchos". Saudi Gazette . 30 October 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  22. ↑ "World-class entertainment park coming up in Al-Qiddiya". Saudi Gazette . 27 October 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  23. ↑ "Saudi crown prince launches mega Red Sea tourism project". Arab News . 1 August 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  24. ↑ Debusmann Jr., Bernd (30 August 2018). "Emaar's Mohamed Alabbar included on Saudi Future Investment Initiative advisory board". Arabian Business . Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  25. ↑ Associated Press (20 October 2018). "Saudi Arabia's account of Jamal Khashoggi's killing is widely denounced" . Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  26. ↑ David Fickling (October 16, 2018). "Just Skipping 'Davos in the Desert' Won't Cut It". Bloomberg News . Retrieved October 16, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Media companies and top executives drop out of Saudi event over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi". CNBC . 12 October 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  28. ↑ Schwartz, Brian (11 October 2018). "Los Angeles Times owner drops out of Saudi Arabia investor conference after Washington Post columnist goes missing". CNBC . Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  29. ↑ Politi, James (12 October 2018). "World Bank president to skip Riyadh conference". Financial Times . Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  30. ↑ Maddaus, Gene (11 October 2018). "Viacom CEO Bob Bakish Bows Out of Saudi Conference Amid Media Exodus". Variety . Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  31. ↑ Gold, Hadas (12 October 2018). "Media sponsors drop out of Saudi conference after journalist goes missing". CNN . Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  32. ↑ "Google latest to withdraw from Saudi conference". Reuters. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  33. ↑ "Google pulls out of Saudi business conference in wake of Khashoggi disappearance" . Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  34. ↑ Mnuchin, Steve. "Mnuchin tweet". Twitter. Twitter. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
  35. ↑ "Executive exodus: Jamie Dimon and other top CEOs quit Saudi conference". CNN. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.