Saudi Arabia Investment forum opens under haze of Khashoggi’s death

Participants attend the opening of the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh

A high-profile economic forum in Saudi Arabia began yesterday in Riyadh, the kingdom’s first major event on the world stage since the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul earlier this month.

Khashoggi’s death loomed large over the Future Investment Initiative forum and coincided with Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan’s claim that Saudi officials murdered Khashoggi in their consulate after plotting his death for days.

Saudi Arabia, which for weeks maintained Khashoggi had left the consulate, on Saturday acknowledged he was killed there in a “fistfight.” Turkish media and officials say a 15-member Saudi team was flown in to kill Khashoggi and accosted the writer in the consulate, cutting off his fingers before killing and dismembering the 59-year-
old Washington Post columnist who wrote critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Prince Mohammed did not attend the start of the conference. International pressure is mounting against him and critics suspect he ordered Khashoggi’s killing or at the least had knowledge of it.

As the conference opened, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih described the journalist’s killing as “abhorrent” in his speech.

The forum kicked off without some of its keynote speakers after numerous Western executives and officials cancelled plans to attend over Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 slaying.

“As we all know, these are difficult days for us in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Al-Falih said to attendees seated in the forum’s ornate hall.

“Nobody in the kingdom can justify it or explain it. From the leadership on down, we’re very upset at what has happened,” he added, referring to Khashoggi’s slaying.

The forum is the brainchild of Prince Mohammed and is aimed at drawing more foreign investment into the kingdom to help create desperately needed jobs for millions of young Saudis entering the workforce in the coming years.

Despite the absence of key executives and speakers from the United States and other Western partners, some USD50 billion in deals were signed yesterday at the forum with Russian and Asian businesses and officials eager to do business with the kingdom.

“Those partners who are here with us today to continue that journey with us are certainly going to look back and find out … how committed the kingdom is to its partners that stay the course,” Al-Falih said, just moments before several deals were inked on stage. AP