"Davos in the Desert" has been postponed due to attacks. Fink and Solomon were scheduled to speak there.

Saudi Arabia has postponed its annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum until 2027. Earlier, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Bloomberg, and the Financial Times (FT), citing sources familiar with the situation, reported that the event, scheduled for October 26, would either be held entirely online or postponed. The decision was made amid attacks by Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis on the kingdom’s airports and the country’s capital. This jeopardizes Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to attract foreign investment, the WSJ notes.

We’re talking about the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum, which has been dubbed “Davos in the Desert.” The WSJ calls it the country’s premier investment conference, as well as a central element of Mohammed bin Salman’s program aimed at transforming the oil-exporting nation into an international hub for business and tourism. The forum was scheduled to take place in Riyadh on October 26–29. Confirmed speakers for the conference, as announced back in late August, included JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Citi Chair and CEO Jane Fraser, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, and others.

However, on Monday, amid an increase in Houthi attacks, the organizers announced that the conference would be postponed until 2027, according to Bloomberg. The exact dates have not yet been specified. “The decision was made to ensure that our 10th anniversary forum takes place on a full scale, at the appropriate level, and with the impact that our partners, members, speakers, and delegates expect,” the FII said in a statement.

In 2025, agreements totaling more than $50 billion were signed at the forum known as “Davos in the Desert.” Yasir Al-Rumayyan, CEO of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), stated that since its launch, the PIF has helped facilitate deals totaling more than $250 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The FII is not the only event that the kingdom has had to postpone or cancel due to a series of Houthi attacks. The summit of EU and Gulf leaders, Riyadh Fashion Week, the Six Kings Slam tennis tournament, and the PIF Saudi International golf tournament were all put at risk, according to the WSJ. This trend has spread throughout the region: due to the conflict with Iran, Dubai and Riyadh had previously postponed the Dubai Financial Market investment conference, the Saudi Arabia Capital Markets Forum, and Dubai Future Finance Week; and the Token2049 crypto conference has been rescheduled from April 2026 to April 2027.

In September, Houthi attacks on Saudi Aramco energy facilities and subsequent shelling of the southern part of the kingdom left dozens injured, and in October, an attack on the international airport in Riyadh killed 12 people and injured more than 300.

The business events industry has long been one of the tools of the economic strategy of the Gulf states, which have sought to position themselves as global centers of business and finance; its decline increases the cost of the war for the region, the WSJ notes.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor