Business & Money | Tuesday 23 October, 2018 2:22 pm |

The Future Investment Initiative (FII) is a platform for “doing business for good and collaborating for the future,” the head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund said in his opening statement of the three-day conference.

The event in Riyadh also saw a raft of deals worth $50 billion, including 12 so-called “mega-deals,” being signed.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, head of the Public Investment Fund and the opening speaker at the event, also said the fund was targeting a $2 trillion portfolio by 2030.

Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, CEO and managing director of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company as well as Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, also spoke on Tuesday morning.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan meanwhile said during the panel on emerging opportunities that his country was looking for a mix of loans from the IMF and “friendly governments.”

Khan said he has spoken to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about boosting investment ties between the two countries.

On the energy and investment panel, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih noted that global oil demand would hit 120 million barrels a day in the next few decades, and that the Kingdom could boost its crude production by 1-2 million barrels a day.

The three-day FII event will likely see more investment partnerships from Russia and China being forged, as noted by Ellen Wald, president of the Transversal Consulting think-tank and author of the recent book “Saudi Inc,” with executives still looking to do business at the Riyadh meeting despite some having pulled out.