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SAUDI-POLITICS-BUSINESS-INVESTMENTS-SCENE
Saudi conference loses sheen after Khashoggi crisis
RIYADH, Oct 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Delegates swooned as a band belted out
“Hotel California” on the sidelines of a Saudi investment forum, with
organisers projecting it as business as usual despite mass cancellations from
global CEOs over critic Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
Multi-billion dollar “mega deals” were declared and sumptuous buffet
spreads laid out at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, while
delegates rushed to take selfies with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who
received a standing ovation.
But the flagship three-day conference that seeks to project the oil-rich
desert kingdom as a lucrative business destination appeared to largely be a
subdued affair after the Khashoggi murder pushed the world’s top oil exporter
into one of its worst crises.
It especially paled in comparison to last year’s inaugural FII, where
Prince Mohammed dazzled investors with plans for the $500-billion mega city
NEOM billed as a regional Silicon Valley, and a talking robot named Sophia
was declared a Saudi citizen.
The forum was billed as an economic coming-out party after the prince, a
self-styled reformer, won global plaudits for ending a decades-long ban on
women drivers and his ambitious plans to modernise the ultraconservative
kingdom.
But the star attractions of last year were missing as the event opened on
Tuesday with British billionaire Richard Branson, SoftBank chief Masayoshi
Son and Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser among dozens of global business
titans who shunned the event.
The brightly lit booths of Western media outlets were gone, with star
television anchors such as Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo — who moderated a
panel with Prince Mohammed last year — notably absent.
– Shifting agenda –
Organisers frequently changed the agenda of the event in a sign speakers
were dropping out.
They scrambled on Wednesday to replace the political no-shows with
figures from regional allies, with Lebanese prime minister-designate Saad
Hariri and the presidents of Senegal and Gabon listed as headliners.
Saudi officials were still eager to project the kingdom’s economic
ambitions, with a Lucid electric car displayed outside the lunch venue and
each delegate receiving a bulky hardcover book titled “A blueprint for the
22nd century”.
At a gala dinner reception on Tuesday, Chico Bouchikhi, one of the
founders of the Gipsy Kings, regaled participants with hit songs such as
“Hotel California”.
The conference was largely filled with delegates from Arab nations, many
from Saudi Arabia itself, and most of the Westerners present sought to
maintain a low profile and some appeared unwilling to even share their
business cards with journalists.
But Saudi officials heaped praise on Western business heads such as the CEO
of French energy giant Total, Patrick Pouyanne, for standing by Saudi Arabia
in this difficult period.
– PR crisis –
Khashoggi’s murder has plunged the kingdom into what observers call an
acute public relations crisis.
The companies doing business with Saudi Arabia would have to “find a
balance between maintaining a good PR image and their business
considerations”, said Tony Chan, president of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah
University of Science and Technology, who attended the forum.
As delegates walked into the vast conference venue at the Ritz-Carlton
hotel, bedecked with frescoed ceilings and glittering chandeliers, many
feverishly checked their phones for new developments about Khashoggi’s
murder.
Prince Mohammed, who has faced a torrent of global criticism over the
murder, is due to address the forum later Wednesday, his first public speech
since Khashoggi’s death on October 2.
Saudi officials at FII sought to defuse what they acknowledged as a
“crisis”.
Prominent Saudi businesswoman Lubna Olayan described the murder a terrible
act “alien to our culture and DNA”.
“For a long time I introduce my country to outsiders by saying: ‘I come
from country that doesn’t allow women to drive’,” said another Saudi
businesswoman.
“I thought we were moving forward, but this (crisis) has taken us far
behind.”
BSS/AFP/RY/1852 hrs