Saudi Arabia Postpones ‘Davos in the Desert’ Investment Summit to 2027 After Houthi Attacks
Saudi Arabia's flagship Future Investment Initiative, scheduled for Oct. 26-29 in Riyadh, will move to an undisclosed date in 2027 after a series of Houthi missile and drone attacks on the capital, organizers said.
Saudi Arabia has canceled next week’s “Davos in the Desert” investment conference in Riyadh and pushed it to an undisclosed date in 2027, organizers said, after a series of Houthi missile and drone attacks on the Saudi capital.
The Future Investment Initiative, scheduled for Oct. 26-29, normally brings Wall Street’s top executives to Riyadh for the kingdom’s flagship investment gathering. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink were all scheduled to speak, CNN reported.
The decision followed a series of Houthi attacks on Riyadh, including a deadly missile strike earlier this month on the city’s King Khalid International Airport, along with strikes on airports, energy infrastructure and other strategic sites across the kingdom. Several countries have issued travel warnings, and Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have exchanged near-daily missile, drone and air strikes in recent weeks as the conflict escalates sharply, CNN reported. Some boards of directors may have balked at sending their chief executives into Saudi Arabia in the middle of the fighting, CNN reported.
A setback for the kingdom’s economic plans
“This decision has been taken to ensure that our milestone tenth edition delivers the full scale, quality and impact that our partners, members, speakers and delegates expect,” the FII Institute, which runs the conference, said in a statement shared via email with CNN’s Becky Anderson. Organizers said new dates in 2027 would be announced soon and that all registrations and partnerships remain valid.
The cancellation is a major setback for the kingdom’s economic ambitions and its efforts to diversify the oil-rich country’s economy away from oil and natural gas, CNN reported. The attacks have also hit energy infrastructure, and oil prices have swung on the regional conflict in recent sessions.
Reporting based on coverage by CNN.
