Saudi investor summit opens in Miami with Iran war in focus

Saudi Arabia’s FII Priority Summit opened its formal proceedings in Miami on Thursday, with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund, set to deliver the keynote address to the gathering of global investors and policymakers.

With U.S. President Donald Trump due to speak on Friday, the conference takes place against the backdrop of war in the Middle East and the disruption of global energy markets following Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Among speakers appearing on Wednesday are Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Ambassador to the U.S. Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, and Khalid Al-Falih, the Minister of State who formerly served as Investment Minister.

The lineup includes Dina Powell McCormick, the newly appointed President and Vice Chairman of Meta, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, AI leader Fei-Fei Li of Stanford University, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon.

Also scheduled to address the gathering are White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, White House advisors Jared Kushner and Massad Boulos, former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, real estate developer Stephen Ross and FIFA head Gianni Infantino.

Before the main sessions, the FII Priority summit on Wednesday focused on Latin America, highlighting the region’s growing importance in global capital flows. The program featured Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodriguez since the U.S. abduction of President Nicolas Maduro. Rodrigues spoke remotely and expressed hope the country will draw more international investors.

U.S. deregulation will bring more Saudi funds, PIF chief says

Saudi Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan says the U.S. needs to cut red tape if it wants more investment from the Gulf kingdom.

Wrapping up the PIF’s FII Priority Summit in Miami Beach on Friday, Al-Rumayyan noted that 40% of the sovereign wealth fund’s current foreign investments are in American companies.

“It could have been much more,” the PIF chief said, pointing to a series of U.S. regulatory rules he described as barriers.

“I hope with the current administration, these restrictions [will] be ironed out and it will attract more investment back to the U.S.”

The three-day conference opened with a speech by President Donald Trump, who said he wants Saudi Arabia to invest $1 trillion in the U.S. over the next four years – a response to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s pledge to invest $600 billion.

PIF’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan sits with Trump, Musk at UFC 309 matches

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, sat with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk in ringside seats at the United Fighting Championship’s UFC 309 event on Saturday night in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Al-Rumayyan, who is also Chairman of Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company, as well as the PIF-owned LIV Golf tournament and English football club Newcastle, showed up in a photo posted on Musk’s X social media platform, chatting with fellow golf lover Trump while watching the fights.

Al-Rumayyan has been negotiating for the past two years over a proposed merger with the PGA golf tour after luring some of the top professional golfers with paychecks of over $200 million. The two sides, along with Europe’s DP World Tour, reached a framework merger agreement in June 2023 that has yet to be finalized.

The former President’s Trump National Golf Club in Bedminister, N.J., hosted LIV Golf tournaments in 2022 and 2023.