American Officials Not Invited to Upcoming Saudi Investment Conference

Monday, 17 October 2022 7:06 PM 

The file photo shows Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

An upcoming Saudi investment conference has not invited US officials as a rift is widening between Washington and Riyadh, which appears to be gravitating toward Russia amid a worsening energy crisis in the West. 

Saudi Arabia will host the Future Investment Initiative (FII), a three-day conference set to begin on October 25 in the capital Riyadh, but the forum’s organizer said that unlike previous years, US officials were not invited to the upcoming event.

Richard Attias, CEO of the group behind the event, announced on Monday that his group “didn't invite any US government" figures, arguing that he did not want the gathering “to become a political platform.”

“We are not inviting too many politicians... because I realized that when you have political leaders on stage, the attention of the media, let's be very frank, is diverted to the political agenda, and we don't want FII to become a political platform,” he added.

Attias said that FII - often referred to as “Davos in the Desert” - typically draws Wall Street titans and high-ranking officials from around the world, and up to 400 American CEOs are expected to participate this year.

Tensions rose between the two countries following Saudi pressure on the OPEC Plus alliance last week to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day.

The decision in not inviting US officials to the conference comes as tensions are growing between longtime partners Washington and Riyadh over the Saudi-led OPEC+ cartel’s recent vote to reduce oil production over Washington's objections. 

Washington has become the world’s top supporter of Ukraine against Russia, after Moscow launched a military offensive in the former Soviet republic in February.

Furthermore, the US, along with its European allies, imposed waves of unprecedented sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

The White House has recently accused Riyadh of aligning itself with Moscow by cutting oil production to drive up crude prices. The allegations, however, were rejected by the Saudi kingdom in recent days, insisting it was purely a business decision.

On Sunday night, the Saudi King said in a live speech that his country was “working hard, within its energy strategy, to support the stability and balance of global oil markets.”

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+), which includes the 13 OPEC nations and 11 non-members including Russia, made the production cut announcement on Wednesday. The group agreed to cut output by 2 million barrels per day, equal to 2 percent of global supply.

Saudi Arabia is a top producer in OPEC+.

Attias said earlier at a presser that “more than 12 ministers of economy and finance” would attend the upcoming edition of the FII.

Although the FII Institute is not formally affiliated with Riyadh, the annual forum in the Saudi capital is closely associated with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler.

Attias said he did not expect the Saudi-US row to have any impact on this year’s FII conference. “No impact at all. At the opposite, we see more and more appetite from the US private sector to attend FII,” he said.

Organizers were “starting to refuse some delegates” for lack of space. “We are not doing politics at all. We never did politics since we were born in 2017, so we have not started ... If people want to talk about geopolitics during the conversation; they are free to do it,” he noted.