Gulf states vie for investors on Swiss resort’s frigid streets
As the World Economic Forum opened Monday on the icy streets of Davos, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were beckoning delegates to come in from the cold – touting a range of gatherings inside their well-heated pavilions on the Swiss ski resort’s main drag.
Saudi House, an all-in-one base at 105 Promenade Street that the kingdom is using to attract foreign investment, will feature programs and exhibits prepared by 13 separate agencies.
They range from the Investment and Tourism ministries to the Royal Commission for AlUla – the ancient desert city, now a center for museums and resorts – to the Diriyah Company – which is carrying out a $63 billion overhaul of Riyadh’s historic core.
Walk-in visitors are generally treated to assorted varieties of Saudi dates and cardamom-infused coffee. Saudi House will also be hosting more elaborate luncheons and dinner meetings during the week.
“The kingdom’s approach to unlocking its potential involves really rewriting the economic playbook,” Saudi Economy and Planning Minister Faisal Alibrahim told Arab News in an interview published today.
“This is not just about investments or the government spending money,” he said. “This is about creating an environment that’s vibrant, that attracts capital, attracts minds to the opportunities that are being created in the kingdom led today by the government.”
Down the road at 68 Promenade Street, the UAE will also have a crowded schedule. On Tuesday, G42 Chief Operating Officer Mansoor Al Mansoori will host Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, for a public chat on “how global cooperation can address challenges like ethical governance, inclusivity, and shared innovation.”
Saudi Arabia has patterned its own annual business forum after the Swiss gathering, establishing the Future Investment Initiative conference in 2017 that was immediately dubbed “Davos in the Desert.”
At its eighth edition last October, some 7,000 movers and shakers poured into Riyadh for the get-together that takes place at the opulent Ritz Carlton hotel and in the vast halls of the adjacent King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center.
Getting a jump on the confab, the developers of Saudi Arabia’s trillion-dollar-plus Neom project invited a select group of financiers, celebrities and influencers to a kickoff event at Sindalah Island, five kilometers off the kingdom’s west coast.
The Red Sea resort island, where an ecosystem is rising of super-luxury hotels, swank night clubs and an 86-berth yacht marina, hosted a beach party headlined by Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys. She sang to an audience that included actor Will Smith, tennis champ Rafael Nidal and former NFL quarterback Tom Brady.
Back in the capital, FII featured a bevy of investment bankers, hedge fund founders and corporate titans who are veterans of Davos and have become regulars at the Saudi conference, showcasing its aspirations for global influence.
Among the speakers on the main stage were bankers Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock; Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreesen Horowitz Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi; Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO of Citadel. Others included Dame Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange; Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google; and Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreesen Horowitz.
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The three-day event was introduced by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Chairman of Aramco. Richard Attias, who hosts and produces the Saudi conference as CEO of the FII Institute, was earlier in his career producer of the WEF conference in Davos.