Yassir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and chairman of Saudi Aramco, launched the third Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh. The three-day event is being attended by global leaders and investors. "Today we have more than 6,000 executives and participants attending, this is more than double the first FII," Al-Rumayyan said in his opening remarks. "This is more than double the first FII. The growth has been incredible," he added. "Until now the Future Investment Initiative has been an annual conference, today it is an institution, it will be a global hub to build relationships," he said. "Here we don't see politicians just talking politics. Asset managers just talking about assets. Philantropists just talking about society. Here we bring it all together — diversity, cooperation and friendship. Connecting capital with ideas, building relationships and doing deals," said Al-Rumayyan. Al-Rumayyan praised forward-looking technologies and said that sustainability is a key pillar of the FII. "Companies like Uber, Airbnb, Alphabet and Noon — they change the status quo by delivering better services and products," he said, adding that a key pillar of the conference is building for a sustainable future. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, leaders of key emerging markets, are set to speak along with King Abdullah II of Jordan and four African leaders. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin leads a high-powered American delegation that includes Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to President Donald Trump. The CEOs of asset management firms Blackstone and SoftBank, as well as chairs of the sovereign wealth funds of Kuwait, UAE, Singapore and Russia are also expected to attend. Top executives from blue chips Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, both working on the much-anticipated flotation of state oil behemoth Saudi Aramco, are on a long list of global bank representatives at the forum. "I have been coming to Saudi Arabia for 20 years but what I have been seeing particularly in the past two or three years is (economic) transformation," Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani told the conference, lauding the Kingdom's leaders. "As a businessman and as an investor I'm all in." Ambani was optimistic for India's growth and described the temporary, "suggesting that government reforms would boost the country's economy. Following the first panel, Blackrock CEO Larry Fink and Saudi Arabia's Olayan Financing Company Chairman Lubna Dlayan hosted a snapshot on market timing. "The world in 2020 will witness higher equity markets," said Fink, who heads the world's largest asset manager, adding that CEO confidence is very low. Fink also called for the use of renewable energy to power electricity grids, but insisted that hydrocarbons will remain relevant. — Agencies
