Saudis go ahead with summit

OUTCRY: CONFERENCE BOYCOTTED BY MANY FINANCIERS AFTER DEATH OF JOURNALIST

Country’s stock index down in early trading yesterday before recovering.

Riyadh

Saudi Arabia brushed off an outcry over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and went ahead yesterday with an investment conference boycotted by Western political figures, leading international bankers and company executives.

Speaking at the opening session, prominent Saudi businessperson Lubna Olayan said the killing of the Washington Post columnist was “alien to our culture” and voiced confidence that the kingdom will “emerge stronger”.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is expected to sign deals worth more than $50 billion (about R719 billion) in the oil, gas, industries and infrastructure sectors on the opening day, with companies including Trafigura, Total, Hyundai, Norinco, Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes.

Hundreds of bankers and company executives joined officials at a palatial Riyadh hotel for the Future Investment Initiative, an annual event designed to help attract billions of dollars of foreign capital as part of reforms to end Saudi dependence on oil exports.

But while last year’s inaugural conference drew the global business elite, this year’s event has been marred by the pull-out of more than two dozen high-level speakers following an international outcry over Khashoggi’s killing.

Many foreign investors see a risk that the Khashoggi case, which drew global condemnation, could damage Riyadh’s ties with Western governments.

Saudi Arabia’s stock index was down 1.6% in early trading yesterday. But it later recovered most of the losses.

Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, disappeared after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage.

After two weeks denying any involvement in his disappearance, Riyadh on Saturday said Khashoggi died during a fight in the consulate. Later, a Saudi official attrib- uted the death to a chokehold.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and senior ministers from Britain and France pulled out of the event along with chief executives or chairs of big financial firms such as JP Morgan Chase and HSBC. – Reuters