Saudi Arabia underlines U.S. focus with new Miami trade office

Saudi Arabia’s Miami Beach investment conference wrapped up on Friday with discussions ranging from the billion-dollar real estate projects cropping up in Riyadh to Elon Musk’s quest for Mars.

Topping the agenda at the FII Priority Summit was a talk by Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the Aramco Chairman who was scheduled to discuss the $925 billion Saudi sovereign wealth fund’s current aims in an onstage chat with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Others appearing at the conference on Friday included Softbank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son; Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital; Steve Cohen, Chairman & CEO of both Point72 and the New York Mets; Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber; Gwynne Shotwell, President & COO of Musk’s SpaceX; and Jerry Inzerillo, Group CEO of Riyadh’s Diriyah development project.

After capturing world attention with U.S. President Donald Trump’s opening speech on Wednesday, the summit got down to business the following morning at a discussion with Saudi Minister of Investment Khalid al-Falih, who said the government this year is especially focused on Washington.

“Expect that great relationship between America and Saudi Arabia to get stronger,” Al-Falih said, announcing that the kingdom will open a branch of its “Invest Saudi” trade office in the Florida city.

Appearing with Miami Mayor Felix Suarez and the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., Princess Reema bint Bandar, Al-Falih said the new branch would also be a gateway for investment in South America. He was accompanied to the conference by Abdulrahman Bakir, the ministry’s Managing Director for the Americas. 

“By selecting Miami as our second office for Invest Saudi after Washington… we’re opening new pathways for inbound investment into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also for facilitating outbound investment,” said Al-Falih, speaking in a session moderated Dina Powell McCormick, Vice Chair and President of BDT & MSD Partners.

Also onstage on Thursday were White House Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law and founder of Miami-based Affinity Partners, who discussed bringing together real-estate executives to consult on a plan for rebuilding the Gaza Strip.

Trump, meanwhile, waded into the stalled effort to unite golf’s PGA Tour with the upstart LIV Golf league that is owned by the PIF and led by Al-Rumayyan. The White House disclosed that the President met on Thursday with golf champ Tiger Woods, PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan and the PIF leader.