Saudi Arabia is “looking very much so at India”, CEO of Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum Richard Attias told Times Network on the concluding day of a three-day event in Riyadh. He said that the Kingdom is “exploring many things that we can do with India and in India.”
“India will play a big role. We know how India is one of the pioneers on technologies. So this is why we're very happy to host many Indian businessmen. We hope to have much more in the next few years because Riyadh is very close to India, as you know. And with a country, which has 1.2 billion people and much more soon, it's extremely important to have Indian businessmen being part of these global conversations.”
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Stressing that India was on Saudi Arabia’s “radar”, the FII CEO said, “We are definitely talking to many Indian leaders. We are very happy to have a great partnership with Reliance, with Mukesh Ambani, a close friend, and many other Indian leaders…And it's a place which is one of the biggest players. It's a G20 country like Saudi Arabia.”
Attias, who has announced that he would step down his FII post by the end of 2024, said “as soon as we will have the annual conference FII behind us, we will discuss with my colleagues from the board of FI Institute about what we can do next.”
“We have our conference in Miami in February. We'll probably have another one in Europe. And then in Asia, it will be the second half of the year, 2025,” he told Times Network, adding that “one day we will also organise one of our FII priority summits, which is like a regional conference in India.”
Saudi Arabia is "doubling down" on its multi-billion dollar plan to overhaul its economy and cut the kingdom's dependence on oil rents. The country, Attias said, has cracked “some really big deals” during the event which started on October 29.
“For the past 7 years. Almost $120,000,000,000 US dollars of deals were achieved and signed during the 7th past edition. Only this year, more than $28,000,000,000 of deals were achieved. Because as I told you, this is not just a place for conversation or discussions or sessions, but also the place of great networking,” he said.
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Speaking about the success of this year’s FII forum, he said, “Despite the current situation in terms of geopolitics that we cannot ignore, As you know, many conflicts, even wars, are happening around us, not just in this region, but in Europe and some other conflicts, also in Africa. And despite all of that, the business community is extremely resilient. The business community is extremely optimistic.”
“They want to move forward,” Attias said, adding that the message he has got from the business community is that the “show must go on”.