Gaza war to dominate WEF

Key players descend on Saudi-hosted global economic summit

The war in Gaza and broader Middle East tensions are expected to get top billing at a Saudi-hosted special meeting of the World Economic Forum.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Palestinian leaders and high-ranking officials from other countries trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are on the guest list for the summit in Riyadh, capital of the world’s biggest crude oil exporter.

“The world is today walking a tightrope right now, trying to balance security and prosperity,” Saudi planning minister Faisal al-ibrahim told a press conference on Saturday previewing the event. “We meet at a moment when one misjudgement or one miscalculation or one miscommunication will further exacerbate our challenges.”

Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum (WEF), told Saturday’s press conference there was “some new momentum now in the talks around the hostages, and also for... a possible way out of the impasse we are faced with in Gaza”.

However there will be no Israeli participation at the summit and Brende noted that formal mediation involving Qatar and Egypt was unfolding elsewhere.

“This is more an opportunity to have structured discussions” with “the key players”, he said.

“There will be discussions, of course, on the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza” as well as on Iran, which backs Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, he added.

The gathering “has all the prospects for becoming a very consequential meeting.”

From the outset Saudi Arabia has worked with other regional and global powers to try to contain the war in Gaza and avoid the type of conflagration that could derail its economic agenda known as Vision 2030.