Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Saudi Investment Conference Loses Attendees

by AFP

   DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES --

   Corporate bigwigs are pulling out of an investment conference in Saudi
   Arabia next week concerned by the fate of missing journalist Jamal
   Khashoggi, despite the risk of losing business with the kingdom.

   International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde was planning to
   attend, but her Middle East trip has been "deferred," an IMF spokesman
   said in a statement, without further explanation.

   U.S. President Donald Trump has said that Treasury Secretary Steven
   Mnuchin will decide by Friday whether he will go to the Oct. 23-25
   Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.

   The conference is organized by Saudi Arabia's mammoth sovereign wealth
   fund, the Public Investment Fund, and has been billed as a showcase for
   the economic reforms of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

   But it has been thrown into doubt since Khashoggi, a Saudi national and
   U.S. resident who was critical of the crown prince, failed to emerge
   from a visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul Oct. 2.

   The conference's website previously featured a list of speakers. But
   that has now been removed, amid the wave of defections.

   Among those shunning the Riyadh conference, according to official
   confirmations or reports by Bloomberg News and CNBC among others:

   Finance
   HSBC chief executive John Flint
   Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam
   MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga
   BNP Paribas chairman Jean Lemierre
   Societe Generale CEO Frederic Oudea
   JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon
   BlackRock chief Larry Fink
   Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman
   Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters

   Industry/technology
   Ford chairman Bill Ford
   Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
   British billionaire Richard Branson
   Thrive CEO Ariana Huffington
   Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene

   Media
   Viacom CEO Bob Bakish

   In addition, multiple media groups have withdrawn executives or
   journalists who were scheduled to join panels at the conference,
   including CNN, Bloomberg, The Economist, the New York Times, CNBC and
   the Financial Times.