Saudi Arabia has postponed its Future Investment Initiative, the state-backed conference informally called Davos in the Desert, until next year. The event had been scheduled to run from October 26 to 29 in Riyadh. A statement on the official website said a new date would be announced soon.
A tenth edition pushed back a year
The conference is the kingdom's main stage for pitching its economic transformation away from oil towards tourism, sport and technology. It has drawn global bank chiefs and technology executives each year since 2017.
Speakers listed for this edition included Alphabet president and chief information officer Ruth Porat, Goldman Sachs chairman and chief executive David Solomon, and BlackRock chairman and chief executive Laurence Fink.
The chief executive of the FII Institute, Dr Maha Bint Mishari Al Saud, said the decision "comes from a deep commitment to our partners, members, speakers and delegates". She said the tenth edition needed to deliver the scale and quality the community expects.
Work from home in the capital
The postponement follows weeks of attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis on military, energy and civilian sites across Saudi Arabia. Strikes on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport killed at least 18 people and injured hundreds more, according to officials and Reuters reporting.
Government agencies in Riyadh have told employees to work remotely from Monday to Thursday this week. The Kingdom Centre, a 99-storey tower that houses the International Monetary Fund's regional office, asked workers to stay away until further notice. Companies in the King Abdullah Financial District, where several US firms have offices, issued similar instructions.
What the strikes cost
Fighting between the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognised government and the Houthis has escalated sharply in recent weeks. The Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in July, and the Saudi-led response has widened.
For investors, the question is no longer whether security risk belongs in a Saudi pitch, but how quickly the kingdom can restore confidence. Postponing the summit avoids empty seats and awkward questions in a week when the capital is under attack, but it also delays the announcements of deals and commitments that the conference normally produces.