David Cameron to attend Saudi Arabia's 'Davos in the Desert'
David Cameron will join international business elite and world leaders set to attend Saudi Arabia’s ‘Davos in the Desert’ investment conference a year after it was boycotted over murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi
- Mr Cameron will join former and current heads of state in Riyadh next week
- Future Investment Initiative was shunned last year after the Khashoggi murder
- But this year Mr Cameron and the likes of Jared Kushner will attend
- Francois Fillon, Matteo Renzi and Kevin Rudd are on Mr Cameron’s panel
David Cameron will join the international elite to attend Saudi Arabia’s ‘Davos in the Desert’ conference a year after it was boycotted over Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
Last year’s Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh was snubbed by business and world leaders as outrage peaked over the killing of the Washington Post columnist at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
But this year, former premiers Mr Cameron, Francois Fillon, of France, Matteo Renzi, of Italy and Kevin Rudd, of Australia, will attend the conference from October 29 to 31, according to a document leaked to Axios.
The summit is aimed at drawing foreign investors to help Riyadh diversify its oil-reliant economy and was last year attended by Saudi royals including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
David Cameron is listed to sit on a panel including former premiers Francois Fillon of France, Matteo Renzi of Italy and Kevin Rudd of Australia
Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, smiles as he attends the Future Investment Initiative conference, in Riyadh last year when it was boycotted
White House adviser Jared Kushner (centre) and US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (left) will attend the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, reports say
Current heads of state billed to attend include Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, India’s Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s Imran Khan, while the Trump administration is dispatching Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
In addition Former Treasury undersecretary David Malpass, now chief of the World Bank, is also on the leaked list, as is former White House Press Secretary Anthony Scaramucci.
Other attendees from Britain include marketing mogul Sir Martin Sorrell, HSBC boss Noel Quinn, CEO of the London Stock Exchange David Schwimmer and government trade envoy Graham Stuart MP.
Global firms including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup are also planning to send top executives.
The Crown Prince, often referred to as MbS is the ultra-conservative kingdom’s de facto leader and was feted by global leaders and business titans before Khashoggi’s gruesome murder.
Francois Fillon of France, Matteo Renzi of Italy and Kevin Rudd of Australia
Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.
The global fallout over the killing rendered the heir to the Arab world’s most powerful throne a pariah, casting a shadow on his reforms, putting the kingdom’s human rights record under the microscope and testing old alliances with Western powers.
The CIA has reportedly concluded that the prince, who controls all major levers of power in the Saudi government, likely ordered the killing.
A report by United Nations Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard also said there was ‘credible evidence’ linking him to the murder and an attempted cover up.
Fallout over the killing cast a shadow over Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reforms
Eleven suspects have been put on trial in Riyadh over Khashoggi’s murder, five of whom face the death penalty, but hearings are held behind closed doors and the names of the defendants have not been released.
Amnesty International has denounced the trial in Riyadh as a ‘sham’ and ‘a mockery of justice.’
Despite the grave controversy the kingdom is preparing to hose the G20 Summit next year.
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