Saudi Arabia’s second Future Investment Initiative (FII) looks set to be a damp squib when it opens on 23 October. The first iteration last year caused headlines around the world with the unveiling of Crown Prince Muhammad’s grandiose, and overly ambitious, planned “robot city” Neom (MEES, 27 October 2017) and the publicity stunt of granting citizenship to the robot “Sophia.”
The Crown Prince intended the second act to rival last year’s event, promising the unveiling of an “amazing deal…far away from oil” at FII in a Bloomberg interview earlier this month. “There is one deal in FII and there are other deals that will be announced there.” But with the roll-call of major pullouts growing on a daily basis “Davos in the Desert” may end up just being deserted. (CONTINUED - 269 WORDS)
