For nine years the Future Investment Initiative has been Saudi Arabia’s stage for selling its post-oil future to the world’s money managers. The tenth edition will have to wait. Organisers said on Monday that the conference, set for 26 to 29 October in Riyadh, is moving to 2027, with fresh dates to follow “very soon”. Anyone already signed up keeps their place, they promised.
FII Institute chief executive Maha Al Saud framed the decision as a matter of quality, saying the anniversary meeting should come with its “full scale”. The real reason is hard to miss. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have been firing missiles and drones deep into the kingdom for weeks. A strike on King Khalid International Airport on 10 October killed more than a dozen people, the deadliest attack on Saudi soil in over a decade, and the airport has been shut since.
Life in the capital has changed accordingly. Several government agencies have told staff to stay home and log in remotely, AFP reported, and offices in Riyadh’s main financial quarter and the Kingdom Centre tower, which hosts the IMF’s regional office, asked employees to stay away. Some prospective guests had reportedly planned to land in Bahrain and drive five hours across the desert. A consultant quoted by AFP put the mood bluntly: no firm will put its employees in danger just to attend a business gathering.
The guest list shows what is at stake. Speakers lined up for this year included the bosses of JPMorgan, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Blackstone. It was at the very first FII in 2017 that Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, presented his NEOM megacity, and the event has since been central to the kingdom’s hunt for foreign capital.
There is no sign of a lull. The Houthis claimed new strikes on Monday against Aramco facilities in Yanbu, the Shaybah oilfield and the airports of Riyadh and Abha, saying they were answering more than 200 Saudi air raids in two days. Egypt has meanwhile offered Riyadh help to defend itself.
