Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative convenes at a pivotal moment for the regionhttps://en.majalla.com/node/327975/business-economy/saudi-arabias-future-investment-initiative-convenes-pivotal-moment
Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative convenes at a pivotal moment for the region
It will be the largest gathering since FII's inception in 2017, with 600 speakers set to address the four-day event and an impressive attendee list comprising US financial titans, among others
AFP-Al Majalla
Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative convenes at a pivotal moment for the region
World leaders of global finance, industry and technology are set to gather alongside political leaders from 27 to 30 October in Riyadh, for the Future Investment Initiative (FII), held at a pivotal moment for Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 journey.
This year’s edition is also significant as it offers the first major international opportunity for the business world to pivot from the catastrophic two-year war in Gaza toward the challenges and opportunities of reconstruction and regional development.
“2025 is a psychological milestone as it sets off the countdown to 2030; FII will be highlighting this year the economic transformation already achieved and the challenges ahead,” said Wael Mahdi, the CEO of Elevare 360 Advisory in Riyadh.
“It will also underscore Saudi Arabia’s geopolitical gravity on the global stage,” he added, referring to Riyadh’s role in mobilising global support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and in leveraging its influence on US President Donald Trump to bring about an end to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
“The peace agreement in Gaza, despite its fragility, has the potential to elevate the FII's immediate geopolitical relevance, potentially transforming the summit into a possible stage for a conversation on the region’s economic trajectory,” said Riad Kahwaji, director of the Institute of Near East and Gulf Military Analysis INEGMA.
Participants attend the opening ceremony of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 25 October 2025.
Largest gathering
The gathering will be the largest since its inception in 2017 by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, according to the organisers, the FII Institute, with 600 speakers set to address the four-day event. The FII is a key platform of the Vision 2030, the crown prince launched in 2016 to diversify the country’s economy away from oil by developing the financial, logistics, tourism, sports, and technology sectors, as well as renewable energy sources.
The final day of the event, known as Investment Day, is dedicated entirely to deal-making, networking, and showcasing next-generation technologies. Agreements and initiatives worth billions of dollars are usually announced at the event across the four pillars: AI and Robotics, Sustainability, Healthcare, and Education. Last year’s event saw $70bn in deals announced during the Investment Day, according to the organisers.
Finance Minister Mohammed al Jadaan, speaking on 14 October at the IMF–World Bank Week 2025 in Washington, set the stage for some of the FII agenda on the technology, economic development and sustainability fronts. He highlighted Saudi Arabia’s two strategic AI assets: 1) its affordable energy available to power data centres from renewable and natural gas projects that are being fast-tracked and 2) its demographics; as 70% of the Saudi population is under 35, the country comprises a digitally-native workforce that can take on many future jobs that don't yet exist, making it highly attractive for technology investors.
Last year's event saw $70bn in deals announced during the Investment Day, across the four pillars: AI and Robotics, Sustainability, Healthcare, and Education
Titan attendee list
Among the American financial titans who will attend the conference are: JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Carlyle co-chairman David Rubenstein, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, who is also the co-chair of the US-Saudi Business Council. Industrial and technology leaders include Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, and Alphabet and Google President Ruth Porat, according to the organisers.
The Saudi perspective will be represented by key figures driving the country's transformation and diplomacy, including Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, Princess Reema Bandar Al Saud, the ambassador to the US, Yasir al-Rumayyan, the Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the engine driving Vision 2030's economic diversification, Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, Amin Nasser, the president of the oil giant Saudi Aramco, and Tareq Amin, the CEO of Saudi AI company HUMAIN. Prominent businesswoman Lubna Olayan, chairwoman of the Saudi Awwal Bank, is among those representing the private sector.
The event is held amid Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's earlier caveat this year that the execution of economic development plans should be aligned with the public interest, effectively suggesting that some of the ambitious projects tied to Vision 2030, such as the futuristic city of Neom, should be slowed or scaled back.
A design for the 500-metre parallel structures, known collectively as The Line, in the heart of the megacity of NEOM on the Red Sea.
"The public interest is the supreme goal we seek from these programmes and targets, and we are determined to achieve and complete them," the crown prince told the Shura council on 10 September. "We also emphasise that we will not hesitate to cancel or make fundamental changes to any programme or target if the public interest requires it."
For Finance Minister Jadaan, the crown prince's statement means that the execution of the giga-projects should be subjected to financial flexibility to ensure that they yield long-term value, productivity, and sustainability. Saudi Arabia—the world's largest oil exporter—has seen its income from energy sales decline due to lower oil prices.
"We should totally disconnect these programmes from an ego that we started implementing something, promoted it, and therefore need to stick to it," Jadaan said at the IMF-World Bank meeting. "If any strategy or project does not make sense to continue, we will have no hesitation to change it, stop it, or extend it," he added.
On the other hand, he said the government has decided to accelerate the development of some industries, such as logistics, due to their role as vital enablers for the rapidly growing tourism, industrial, and manufacturing sectors. He said tourism has already surpassed its 2030 target of 100 million tourists per year.
Tourists during a visit to the ancient archaeological site of Hegra in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023.
A session titled The Key to Prosperity: Unlocking New Frontiers of Growth, aimed at tackling this issue, will be centred around three topics:
Progress: it will address market efficiency and the exploitation of natural resources, with discussions of the energy costs of digital development and the environmental costs of economic growth.
Innovation: it will address how to harness artificial intelligence responsibly, empower tech entrepreneurs and advance climate resilience
Fragmentation: it will address geoeconomic risks and how to foster cooperation between the developed and developing nations (global north and global south), the currency gap between fiat and crypto and the contradictions of a global system that is simultaneously interconnected and competing to secure supply chains, microchips and rare earth needed for high-tech and green energy applications.
Rebuilding Gaza…and the region
"On the geoeconomic front, this FII convenes as the region is pivoting away from war and confrontation,'' said Naji Abi Aad, a Vienna-based energy expert and former economic adviser of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
"The reconstruction and rehabilitation momentum is taking over, in Gaza, in Syria, in Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia is a key actor, thanks to its financial muscle and to its clout with the global political and economic powers, and mainly the US, which is vastly represented in the FII,'' he said.
First state visit
Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is set to score in November the first state visit to the US by a foreign leader in Trump's second term, with a plan to sign a package of economic and military agreements. Work is underway to prepare a package of economic, military and security agreements, according to US media.
The first major foreign trip of Trump's second term was to Saudi Arabia, where he expressed hope that the countries would further cement their commercial and business ties and suggested that increased military cooperation was also in the cards.
US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman exchange a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during a ceremony at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 13, 2025.
The Saudi leadership committed to investing $600bn in the US during the visit, which put the country in the global spotlight and gave a fresh impetus to the historic alliance between the two nations, with plans to develop AI and defence projects. Saudi Arabia also organised, with France, a conference at the United Nations in September to promote a two-state solution, during which ten Western countries joined the majority of the world in recognising the state of Palestine.
"Global capital naturally seeks a stable, credible anchor from which to launch new infrastructure projects and humanitarian recovery efforts," said Elevare's Mahdi. "The disappearance of the risk of war shifts the focus back to fundamentals, presenting major opportunities in regional infrastructure, renewable energy, and reviving tourism."
The conference will open with the Governor of the $1tn-valued Public Investment Fund (PIF), Yasir al-Rumayyan, presenting the 4th Priority Compass—a survey that gathers insights from tens of thousands of people across 32 countries to guide discussions toward concrete, citizen-driven solutions. Last year, it identified inflation and the cost of living, political governance and corruption, access to healthcare, pollution issues, and climate change among the top issues mentioned by the people surveyed.
