Pakistan Today

These business A-listers are skipping Saudi Arabia’s big conference

PakistanToday

Most of the big names who were due to attend Saudi Arabia’s investment conference next week have bailed out following the disappearance and apparent killing of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Thursday he would not attend the conference. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde dropped out on Wednesday, closely followed by the heads of two of France’s biggest banks.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will also visit Saudi Arabia on October 22 for a two-day tour to discuss bilateral issues and also attend the conference, sources said on Thursday.

Wall Street’s biggest names withdrew earlier this week, as did some of Europe’s top executives in finance.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, hasn’t been seen since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Turkish officials have told CNN he was killed inside the consulate. Saudi authorities have so far maintained that Khashoggi left the consulate the same day, but they have provided no evidence to support the claim.

The Saudi conference, known as “Davos in the desert,” is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to transform the oil-dependent economy.

These are the high-profile participants who have already pulled out:

The chief executives of a handful of prominent Asian and European companies — some of whom have benefited from hefty Saudi investments — are still planning to attend, or are refusing to talk about their plans.

Here’s a list of big names who are still planning to participate:

These executives have not yet commented on whether they still plan to attend:

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