{"id":2974,"date":"2026-10-19T22:03:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T17:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2974"},"modified":"2026-10-19T22:03:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T17:03:46","slug":"saudi-flagship-investment-conference-pushed-to-2027-after-houthi-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2974","title":{"rendered":"Saudi flagship investment conference pushed to 2027 after Houthi attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A major Saudi investment conference has been postponed to next year, its chief executive officer said on Monday, as the kingdom comes under repeated attacks from Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthis.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The annual Future Investment Initiative (FII), often dubbed \u201cDavos in the Desert\u201d, was scheduled to take place from October 26-29.<\/p>\n

For nearly a decade, it has served as a showcase for Saudi Arabia\u2019s efforts to attract global investors, business leaders and heads of state.<\/p>\n

The postponement deals a blow to the kingdom\u2019s ambitions to draw foreign capital, diversify its oil-reliant economy and push its reform agenda.<\/p>\n

In a statement posted on X, FII Institute CEO Maha Al Saud said the gathering would instead take place in 2027, saying organisers wanted to ensure the anniversary edition delivered the \u201cfull scale\u201d and \u201cextraordinary quality\u201d expected by participants.<\/p>\n

She said new dates would be announced soon, while current registrations and partnerships would remain valid.<\/p>\n

Three sources familiar with the matter had earlier told AFP the conference would be postponed.<\/p>\n

One source said organisers \u201cwon\u2019t announce a new date soon\u201d while another questioned who would be willing to \u201crisk flying to Riyadh these days\u201d.<\/p>\n

The decision comes after Riyadh\u2019s international airport, a repeated target of Houthi attacks, suspended operations earlier this month after 13 people were killed in an October 10 strike, with no clear timeline for when air traffic could resume.<\/p>\n

It was the deadliest attack on the kingdom in more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, diplomatic sources said the kingdom was planning to move ahead with the conference, offering on-site and virtual attendance, as well as alternative air and land travel routes.<\/p>\n

But that plan appears to have been scrapped as Western travel warnings for the region have multiplied and the airport remains shut.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe executives I\u2019ve spoken to are very, very, very hesitant to travel to Riyadh for this month\u2019s conferences,\u201d a consultant who advises Saudi firms told AFP.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies won\u2019t put their employees in harm\u2019s way for the sake of an investment conference,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A major Saudi investment conference has been postponed to next year, its chief executive officer said on Monday, as the kingdom comes under repeated attacks from Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthis. The annual Future Investment Initiative (FII), often dubbed \u201cDavos in the Desert\u201d, was scheduled to take place from October 26-29. For nearly a decade, it has served as a showcase for Saudi Arabia\u2019s efforts to attract global investors, business leaders and heads of state. The postponement deals a blow to the kingdom\u2019s ambitions to draw foreign capital, diversify its oil-reliant economy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}