Riyadh, January 29, 2021: The Fourth Edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) closed yesterday after an exceptional day of prominent speakers — including His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman — who discussed urban development and advances in Artificial Intelligence.
• His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud sat down for an exclusive conversation with Senator Matteo Renzi , the former Prime Minister of Italy, to unveil his vision for Riyadh, including expanding the capital’s population to 15-20 million people and making it one of the ten largest city economies in the world.
• His Royal Highness said: ‘’True growth begins in the city, whether in terms of industry, innovation, education, services, or other sectors. I have no doubt that the world economies are not based on nations, but on cities.’’
• HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also said that a second listing of Saudi Aramco could happen as part of its plans to raise funds for its sovereign-wealth fund. This will yield a cash flow transferred to the Public Investment Fund (PIF) to be reinvested domestically and internationally to be benefit Saudi citizens, he said.
• More than 4 million people watched online as speakers provided their insight into how the global community can work together to bring about a Neo-Renaissance and fuel a rebirth. This pandemic showed the real urgency to move beyond the status quo and cooperate to create a positive impact on humanity.
• Conversations focused on how to enhance the end-to-end consumer journey through innovative tech solutions and digitisation. The plenary sessions focused on how the pandemic has accelerated the pace of change in frontier technologies. As Bitcoin prices hit an all-time high this month, traditional players discussed how to grapple with the challenges of integrating fintech into their business models.
• H.R.H. Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud hosted a panel on redefining leadership for the post Covid-era. The Honorable Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia, opened the second day to discuss how world leaders can realize the mandates of the 2020 G20.
• “The G20 represents 90% of the global economy, 80% of global trade and 2/3 of the world’s population,’’ Rudd said. ‘’In past history, it was the mechanism through which the global economy was rescued from depression. The machinery available remains critical for the future as well.”
• The FII Institute signed Memorandums of Understanding to drive the not-for-profit foundation’s mission forward, including with Tadawul to cooperate on Environmental, Social and Governance and with KAUST to cooperate on research and events that facilitate access to science. The Institute also signed a letter of intent with the African Continental Free Trade Area and OriginAll to develop a technology to protect nations from counterfeit and illicitly traded products.
• In the closing session, The Road Ahead, COO of the Future Investment Initiative Institute, Rakan Tarabzoni said: “What we delivered over the past two days was by far setting the stage for a new redefined way of delivering events, despite what happened in 2020 and despite COVID-19. We felt that the world needs to come together to discuss how the world can move forward. The pandemic is not going to disappear tomorrow, so we needed to get everyone around one table to discuss the world and the business post COVID-19. And the table is here. This is FII.”
• “We promise you this is just the beginning, and we look forward to seeing you again in October for the 5th Edition of FII on 25-28th October 2021,” Tarabzoni said.
ENDS
• About the 4th Edition of FII
The two-day conference saw over 150 leaders, investors, tech pioneers and policy makers connect in a new extended reality conference format, hosted by the Future Investment Initiative Institute, in a multi hub event, with an in-person event in Riyadh and hubs in Paris, New York, Mumbai and Beijing.
About the Future Investment Initiative
The Future Investment Initiative Institute is a new generation of global not-for-profit foundation that ensures the world’s brightest ideas find their way to materialize, scale and create positive sustainable Impact on Humanity.
With an ambitious vision to empower the brightest minds to shape a better future for ALL and with ALL, the FII Institute brings together leaders, investors and policy makers to collectively curate and enable concrete ideas that can solve today’s most pressing societal issues, while creating long-term platforms to reshape the future of humanity.
To learn more about the FII Institute, visit http://fii-institute.org . Keep up with latest news by following us on LinkedIn and LinkedIn