From food security to professional football, Saudi Arabia is ready to deploy billions of dollars to invest in Brazil and its Latin American neighbors as the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund expands its scope of global investments.

That’s the message being delivered in Rio de Janeiro by Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan who opened a three-day conference on Wednesday aimed at cementing the Gulf country’s financial links with resource-rich nations on the South American continent.

“We started investing in Brazil in 2016… in food securities [and] we are interested in investing in technology, renewable energy, and mining, and hopefully in football too,” Al-Rumayyan said as he kicked off the PIF’s Future Investment Initiative Priority Summit at the Copacabana Palace Hotel overlooking the city’s legendary beach.

Touting the sovereign fund’s $2 trillion in assets, Al-Rumayyan, who is also Chairman of Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company; English soccer club Newcastle United and the two-year-old LIV Golf tournament, said the kingdom is particularly interested in companies that are developing infrastructure for artificial intelligence in the Southern Hemisphere.

“We should look for solutions [as to] how to power the AI revolution through renewable energy,” he said, “Brazil is well-positioned to be one of the major players. What you need is the right regulations and government backing, along with an investment mix.”

Brazilian Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said the kingdom intends to invest some $15 billion in Brazil.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva followed Al-Rumayyan onstage, telling the conference’s 1,500 participants that his visit to Riyadh last November provided “tremendous impetus” for collaboration with Saudi Arabia.

“We are not just the Brazil of soccer or Brazil of the violence,” Lula said. “We are also the Brazil of the men and women who want to grow and develop.”

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is continuing its dogged drive to create an electric vehicle market in the kingdom.

The sovereign wealth fund’s EV-maker CEER announced on Tuesday a $2.2 billion deal with Hyundai Transys for the South Korean parts supplier to make the drive systems for its cars, set to be unveiled by next year.

Drive systems are responsible for converting the energy from an EV’s battery into mechanical power to move the wheels. 

The decade-long supply deal is set to start in 2027, when CEER aims to drive the first of its SUVs, sedans and coupes off the assembly line.

CEER, the two-year-old joint venture between the PIF and Taiwan’s Foxconn, is not Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s only play into electrification as he looks to grow the share of EVs in the kingdom to 30% by 2030 – up from 1% right now. 

In addition to setting up CEER in 2022, the kingdom has invested at least $6.4 billion in California luxury EV maker Lucid Motors, which it majority owns, and has built an EV metals plant.

In October, the PIF and Hyundai announced a $500 million joint venture to build a factory for internal combustion engines and EVs, creating a planned factory hub alongside CEER and Lucid in Jeddah’s King Abdullah Economic City.

The effects of climate change, population pressures and a regional struggle which has seen vast water resources diverted from the Nile to a dam in Ethiopia have all left Egypt rapidly approaching a state of severe water scarcity.

National authorities are now hoping to put advanced technology to work to help avert a crisis, by bringing in its space agency to revolutionize the study and sustainable management of water resources.

A cooperation agreement between the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences and the National Water Research Center was announced on Tuesday to spearhead these efforts.

Under the deal, the agencies will join forces to develop innovative solutions for water management, including smart systems aided by aerial and ground sensors, advanced imaging and Internet of Things technologies.

The convening of an “AI Retreat” at Dubai’s Museum of the Future today has presented a sterling opportunity for some of the biggest names in chips and data storage to show off their wares before some of the UAE’s top decision-makers in government.

Executives from Nvidia, Google Cloud, Microsoft, AWS, Oracle and IBM are all taking the stage today to tout their products as the UAE’s biggest city accelerates plans to implement AI across government services and attract more business from deep tech firms.

On the sidelines of the gathering, Omar Al Olama, UAE Minister of Artificial Intelligence, said the UAE is looking to position itself as a top destination for advanced chip manufacturing, in an interview with Bloomberg.

He added that he believes U.S. security concerns over technology leaking from the Middle East and into China are understandable. “Sometimes you are a victim of the neighborhood you are in,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s energy firm Acwa Power is planning to raise 7.1 billion riyals ($1.9 billion) by issuing stock to existing shareholders days after Saudi Aramco landed $11.2 billion in its own share sale.

Acwa Power, which is 44% owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, is one of the leading firms in Saudi Arabia’s decarbonization and diversification strategies.

The company is planning to double annual investments to $2.5 billion in an international push into renewables and hydrogen, as well as projects in the kingdom, Bloomberg reports.

Acwa’s shares have increased about 570% since listing on the Saudi Tadawul Exchange in October 2021. 

Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative, which hosts the annual “Davos in the Desert” gabfest, begins its first gathering in Latin America today.

Following a buzzy meeting of FII PRIORITY in Miami earlier this year, the kingdom is broadening its sphere of influence with a summit drawing some of South America’s biggest names in business and government to the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro.

This iteration will delve into climate action, the Gulf’s emergence among the BRICS nations and new technology. 

FII, which counts the Public Investment Fund as a founding partner, is bringing together powerbrokers amid a flurry of trade activity between Saudi Arabia and Brazil.

The two countries have discovered common ground on food security, mining and aviation, with Brazil hitting a 10-year high in export activity to the kingdom in 2023. 

The most recent deals include an agreement between Lulu, the Middle East’s biggest supermarket chain, and Brazil’s trade agency to promote Brazilian foodstuffs in the Saudi market, signed last week.

In May, Brazilian mining giant Vale sold a 10% stake of its base metals unit for $2.5 billion to Manara Minerals, a joint venture between Saudi mining firm Ma’aden and the PIF.

That same month, Brazilian aviation company Embraer inked cooperation agreements in the kingdom, with the airplane manufacturer planning to build or assemble its aircraft in Saudi Arabia under the deal.

All of this comes as the kingdom mulls opening an investment office in South America’s biggest economy.

Speakers on the agenda at this FII gathering include Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund and Chairman of the FII Institute; Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud, Saudi Ambassador to the U.S.; Faisal Bin Bandar Al Saud, Chairman of the Saudi Esports Federation; and Mike Pompeo, former U.S. Secretary of State.

Also scheduled to speak are Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, Saudi Minister of Investment; Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman of S4 Capital Group; André Esteves, Chairman of BTG Pactual; Bernard Mensah, President of International at Bank of America; and Julia Dias Leite, CEO of the Brazilian Center for International Relations.

David Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group, met with Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed, the First Deputy Ruler of Dubai over the weekend, as competition heats up to attract private capital to the region.

“We discussed the unique model for public-private partnerships established by the UAE and Dubai, and the new investment opportunities resulting from this approach,” Sheikh Maktoum, who is also UAE Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and President of the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), wrote in a post to Instagram.

Carlyle, one of the world’s biggest private equity and alternate asset managers with $425 billion under management, opened an office in Dubai’s DIFC in 2006.

Rubenstein said the firm is looking to expand its footprint in the region and eyeing new opportunities in emerging markets, according to a statement carried by state media WAM.

The meeting was attended by Carlyle CEO Harvey Schwartz and Ani Khatri, the group’s Managing Director, Partner and Senior Relationship Manager responsible for overseeing Investor Relations in the Middle East, Turkey and Central Asia.

From the government, Minister of State for Financial Affairs Mohamed bin Hadi Al Hussaini, DIFC Governor Essa Kazim and Dubai Holding Group CEO Amit Kaushal were also present.

The UAE space program is taking a $1.1 billion leap forward by contracting with Airbus to build two new satellites.

Abu Dhabi-based Yahsat signed a contract with European aerospace company Airbus Defence and Space to design and build the AY4 and AY5 satellites based on the widely used Eurostar Neo platform.

Yahsat won a $5.1 billion contract last year to provide satellite service for the UAE government, primarily through the AY4 and AY5 models that are scheduled for launch in 2027 and 2028.

Yahsat merged with Emirati space company Bayanat last December to form a new company focused on satellite communications and artificial intelligence with an implied market value at the time of $4 billion.

Among the key backers of the combined entity are the Mubadala sovereign wealth fund, AI developer G42 and International Holding Co., the Abu Dhabi investment company led by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed.