Future Investment Initiative, Saudi Arabia’s annual investment summit attended by global heads of major finance and technology firms, is postponed untill 2021 due to difficulties in travel amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The fourth FII event, which is hosted each year by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, had been due to take place in Riyadh in October.
“After careful consideration and assessment of the global travel and airline outlook, as well as the regulations imposed by a significant number of countries, and in the context of the efforts deployed to overcome the impact of Covid-19, we have decided to postpone the fourth edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII),” a statement from the organisers said.
The event, which has been nicknamed 'Davos in the Desert', will now take place from 26-28 January 2021. The theme of the fourth edition will be "The Neo-Renaissance", organisers said.
Investment deals worth $20 billion (Dh73.4bn) were sealed at the 2019 summit, including a $5bn agreement between the Saudi Real Estate Company and US mall operator Triple 5 to develop the Arabian Dream – the world’s largest shopping and entertainment complex in Riyadh.
Other deals signed last year included a $700 million investment by Modular Middle East to set up a prefabricated building facility, a $300m investment from Chinese shopping platform OneDeal for a new distribution hub and a $200m deal with the UK’s Shiloh Minerals to develop production capacity in the kingdom.
