This archive report was first published on 29 October 2019.
On October 29, 2019, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, the sovereign wealth fund, hosted its annual investment conference in Riyadh, a year after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
DP World, a transport company based in the United Arab Emirates, and Virgin Group, led by Richard Branson, were major backers of the conference.
Many attendees, including venture capitalists and money managers, were hoping to meet new clients, partners, and tap sources of new cash. They were mainly there to network, but also to find out more about the status of Aramco and what led to SoftBank's bailout of WeWork.
SoftBank's original capital in WeWork came from the SoftBank Vision Fund, which is largely backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
The Public Investment Fund took careful measures to avoid backlash, keeping the conference agenda off its website until the last minute.
Some attendees drew criticism for attending the conference, despite the controversy surrounding Saudi Arabia's human rights record.
Former World Bank president Jim Yong Kim withdrew from attending in 2018, but his successor, David Malpass, participated in a panel on Tuesday.
Paul Cadario, a former World Bank senior manager, questioned the decision, saying, “I’m not sure what has changed since last year when the World Bank and the world community said we are not going to be a party to corruption, harassment of dissidents and to extrajudicial killings.”
Some attendees defended the kingdom, suggesting that the media was being tougher on Saudi Arabia than on other authoritarian countries like China.
