Riyadh to Host Investment Forum Amid Political Tensions Over Khashoggi's Death

Khashoggi, who has been working for The Washington Post newspaper as a columnist and known for his criticism of Saudi authorities, went missing in Istanbul on October 2 after he entered the Saudi consulate and never came out. The incident caused an outcry in Turkey as well as many Western countries.

Mnuchin Meets Saudi Crown Prince in Riyadh Amid Controversy Over Khashoggi Death

22 October 2018, 23:18 GMT

After denying any knowledge of Khashoggi's whereabouts for two weeks, Saudi Arabia admitted on Friday that the journalist died in a fight inside its consulate. Riyadh also said that 18 people had been arrested over their involvement in the incident. Turkey is conducting a separate investigation into the journalist's death.

Over the past weeks, several prominent officials have dropped out of the conference, including US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde, Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra, UK Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox, and French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, among others.

The World Bank, The New York Times, Bloomberg, CNBC, Google and Uber have also announced their decision to pull out of the FII conference amid the scandal around Khashoggi’s disappearance.

The string of cancellations caused the FII organizers to hide the speakers list section on the forum’s website. As of Monday afternoon, the conference had no detailed program.

Siemens CEO Refuses to Attend Riyadh Forum Over Journalist Khashoggi's Death

22 October 2018, 15:55 GMT

Nevertheless, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud is expected to open the event on Tuesday, which is set to gather over 150 speakers and 140 organizations, including 17 global companies, to discuss investments’ role in economy growth, innovation and fight against global challenges. Over the course of 40 sessions, global finance industry leaders will discuss a number of topics, including market drivers, digital currency, and new technologies.

Russia, which stated that it was better to wait for the results of the probe into the Khashoggi case before altering relations with Riyadh, will be represented at the FII forum. Moscow's delegation includes over 30 representatives of leading Russian companies, as well as the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is in a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) on joint investments in projects in Russia.