Future Investment Initiative Institute to host a key event in Riyadh amid Covid-19 pandemic

World leaders, policy makers and investors to speak during the January 27-28 conference

Saudi Arabia's economy is expected to grow 3.1 per cent this year. Reuters

The Future Investment Initiative Institute will host a key conference this month in Riyadh to discuss some of the important issues affecting the global economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“There has never been a more important time for leaders, investors and policy makers to come together to work towards re-energising the global economy,” Yasir Al Rumayyan, chairman of the FII Institute and governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), said.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the global, trade, travel and tourism industries to a halt and infections continue to rise across the globe. As of Friday, global infections surpassed 88.5 million with more than 1.9 million deaths, according to Worldometer, that tracks the pandemic.

The coronavirus cases are also surging in the Middle East and the region passed a “grim milestone” of 5 million cases since the pandemic began early last year, according to the World Health Organisation. The UK earlier this week began a third national lockdown to contain the spread of the pandemic.

A number of topics including sustainable investment, global economic growth and the future of healthcare, digitisation, education and culture will be discussed during the two day event. Sessions will also address the rebirth of SMEs, and how investing in culture can make it an engine of growth to support artists and museums and rectify long-standing gender inequalities.

The FII Institute, a newly established non-profit global foundation, will host the conference on January 27 and 28 at the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, with speakers and audiences joining physically and virtually from New York, Paris, Beijing and Mumbai.

Saudi Arabia signed 24 investment deals worth $20 billion during the third edition of the Future Investment Initiative in 2019.

The Public Investment Fund is injecting billions of dollars into the economy to spur growth. The fund will inject $40bn on an annual basis in 2021 and 2022, according to the kingdom's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.