LONDON/RIYADH: The second day of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) starts on Thursday in Riyadh, with 黑料社区's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman holding a conversation with former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi to begin the day's agenda.
The fourth edition of the forum opened on Wednesday with panels addressing how to rethink the future of the global economy around the theme 鈥淭he Neo-Renaissance鈥 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speakers discussed how investment can inspire an economic rethink and how it could support the energy sector to power a post-COVID-19 crisis recovery. They also discussed ways to re-imagine a new era of global sports and entertainment.
Follow day two of the event live below (All times GMT):
18:45 -听And that brings an end to coverage of this edition of the forum, with its theme of Neo Renaissance and its many discussions, brought to a close by which have been brought to a close by FII Institute's听Rakan Tarabzoni. We hope you enjoyed Arab News' coverage. See you in October for the fifth edition!
18:30 - ICYMI:听The FII on Wednesday signed a number of major agreements, including a partnership aimed at protecting over 1.2 billion people from counterfeit and illicit trade in Africa.
Addressing a press conference on the second day of the fourth FII forum, Richard Attias, CEO of the institute, announced the three initiatives. READ MORE HERE.
18:20 - Princess Reema, Kingdom's ambassador to the US, is back for the final panel session of the day. This time, she is discussing a panel titled听鈥淩edefining leadership for the post-COVID听era: How to inspire a 21st century economic renaissance,鈥 along with former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi.
18:00 -听Given the broader economic contraction, what is the pipeline for VC investment and what shifts are necessary to capitalize on the acceleration of digital transformation? The penultimate panel of the final day will discuss how听booming technology stocks and rapid digitization across industries have driven a V-shaped recovery for VC.
Moderator: Nadira Tudor, International Broadcaster
鈥ajeev Misra, CEO, SoftBank Investment Advisers, UK
鈥 Jack Selby, Managing Director, Thiel Capital, US
鈥 Christine Tsai, CEO and Founder, 500 Startups, US听
鈥 Patrick Zhong, Founding Managing Partner, M31 Capital, China
17:40 - ICYMI:听In order to achieve viable technological solutions for the future, venture capitalists need to overcome the need for immediate financial return and focus on long-term goals, according to speakers at FII.
Deep technology and solutions for the future that can cope with 鈥渇eeding nine billion people, climate refugees and habitat provision鈥 are seemingly within reach, but they will take time to accomplish, Interstellar Lab founder and CEO, Barbara Belvisi told delegates. READ MORE HERE.
17:30 - 黑料社区's听Public Investment Fund launched on听Thursday the Cruise Saudi Company, which aims to establish and develop the cruise industry in 黑料社区, enhance the Kingdom's efforts to become a tourist destination on the international cruise map, and develop the tourism sector in line with Saudi Vision 2030. READ MORE HERE.
17:15 -听With 2020 becoming the year of biotechnology, the next panel ponders how the rapid development of several COVID-19 vaccines has changed, and will continue to听change, the global healthcare industry.听
Having revolutionized everything from agriculture to energy to medicine, biotech firms traditionally incur high risks, require strict oversight and suffer from slow timelines before delivering a return on听financial investments 鈥 but 2020 reinvigorated the sector, as the panel discuss.
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17:00 - ICYMI:听The growing attraction of Riyadh as an economic, financial and investment hub has been underlined by the decision of 24 multinational companies to establish regional headquarters in the Saudi capital. The companies - including such heavyweights as PepsiCo, Schlumberger, Bechtel and Boston Scientific - announced their plans on the second day of the Future Investment Initiative (FII). In a sign of the growing appeal of Riyadh as a consumer hub, Canadian fast food chain Tim Hortons will also set up there.
The news came after Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announced ambitious plans to accelerate the city鈥檚 growth to join the ranks of the top 10 city economies in the world and double the size of its population by 2030. READ MORE HERE.
16:45 - 黑料社区's ambassador to the US, Princess Reema听bint Bandar bin Sultan, is chairing a panel on the future of education and why investment in education technology will help not just students affected by the COVID-19 pandemic today, but also students in developing nations in the future 鈥斕齢elping them become 鈥済lobal students.鈥
16:35听-听The GCC is witnessing a serious change, Saudi Minister of Finance, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, said, adding: 鈥淲e鈥檙e in a very healthy competition. We are complementing each other and we are trying at you to build on.鈥
鈥淒iversification for us is a win-win. I鈥檓 helping the economy to grow that will then basically grow the tax base, which means more revenues to the government that would enable it to provide better services to the people and citizens of 黑料社区,鈥 Al-Jadaan said. READ MORE HERE.
16:25 - ICYMI:听Saudi Aramco, the world鈥檚 biggest oil company, could launch a second offering of shares to follow the historic initial public offering of 2019, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the Future Investment Initiative (FII) gathering.
鈥淭his will yield a cash flow transferred to the Pubic Investment Fund (PIF) to be reinvested domestically and internationally for the benefit of Saudi citizens,鈥 the Crown Prince said. READ MORE HERE.
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16:10 - ICYMI:听Major issues related to health care, climate change, and education could be resolved through the appliance of advanced machine technology, delegates at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit were told.听READ MORE HERE.
16:00 - Arab News columnist听Roxana Mohammadian-Molina heads up the next panel, talking about the revolution in financial technology (or FinTech) and how its development has been fast-tracked by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read her opinion piece on 黑料社区's FinTech development below.
Opinion
This section contains relevant reference points, placed in (Opinion field)
Moderator: Roxana Mohammadian-Molina, Chief Strategy Officer, Blend Network, UK
鈥 Bob Diamond, Founding Partner and CEO, Atlas Merchant Capital, US
鈥 Steve Jacobs, Managing Partner and CEO, BTG Pactual UK,听
鈥 Tayo Oviosu, Founder and Group CEO, Paga, Nigeria
鈥 Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and CEO, Paytm, India
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15:30:听Social distancing and work from home protocols have accelerated digital transformation and will permanently reform workspaces and听business models. So,听how can investors capitalize on the warp speed of digital transformation and how can CEOs mobilize quickly enough to ensure their companies are not left behind? Our next panel is answering those questions.
Moderator: Edie Lush, Executive Editor, Hub Culture
鈥 Marc Ganzi, President and CEO, Colony Capital,听US
鈥 Faraz Khalid, CEO, Noon, UAE
鈥 Jacob Mullins, Managing Director, Shasta Ventures, US听
鈥 Lu Zhang, Founder and Managing Partner, Fusion Fund, US
15:15 - We are now listening to a conversation about the need for infrastructure investment, but also investment in the global digital ecosystem, for progress in the 21st century, with executives from Emaar, Hyperloop-One and听Bechtel Group.
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15:00 -听ICYMI:听During his discussion with former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman explained听how Public Investment Fund听assets will increase over the next decade as the Kingdom moves forward with its development goals. WATCH BELOW:
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14:40 -听The next panel discusses a听roadmap of new global environmental, social and governane (ESG)听standards that incorporate the realities and limitations of emerging markets and encourage sustainable developments around the world. Panelists below:
Moderator: Cyba Audi, Senior News Anchor, Asharq News
鈥 Eng. Khalid Abdullah Al-Hussan, CEO, Tadawul, 黑料社区 (pictured below)
鈥 Loh Boon Chye, CEO, Singapore Exchange, Singapore
鈥 Sherif Foda, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, NESR, 黑料社区听
鈥 Scott Minerd, Chairman of Investments and Global CIO, Guggenheim Partners, US
14:30 - ICYMI:听黑料社区's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman talking earlier about the development听of Riyadh听in a conversation with former Italian PM Matteo Renzi. The crown prince explained how the Saudi capital will be transformed over the next decade, and how it will lead the transformation of the Kingdom as a whole.听WATCH CLIPS BELOW:
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14:15 - We have a string of short, quick-fire sessions for the next segment of the day. In the first one, Erin Burnett, host of of OutFront, CNN talks to James P. Gorman, Chairman and CEO at听Morgan Stanley.
Then we have FII CEO, Richard Attias, back on stage talking to听Bruno Le Maire, the French minister of Economy, Finance and Recovery.
14:00 -听What are the investment opportunities presented by the new generation of 鈥榯echnology for good鈥 ventures? That's the topic of discussion up next with Barbara Belvisi, Founder/CEO of Interstellar Lab who is in discussion with听Anthony Berkley, Head of ACT & Investments.
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13:30 - Following on from the crown prince's comments about the strategy for Riyadh going into 2030,听Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Investment, and Fahd Al-Rasheed, President of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City are talking about what the future of the city holds with FII CEO Richard Attias.
And during the session, 20 companies signed MoUs to boost investment for the city of Riyadh as part of its strategy for the next decade.听
13:00 - Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has a discussion with former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi about how the Kingdom is looking to further investment to achieve its Vision 2030 goals. The crown prince also spoke about strategies to turn Riyadh into one of the world's top-10 cities for infrastructure and services.
12:45 - We have kicked off with day two, and after a look back at day one鈥檚听action, we have former prime minister of Australia Kevin Rudd talking about听how world leaders can realize the mandates offered during 黑料社区鈥檚听G20 presidency.
12:25 - Elsewhere on day one, Usain Bolt made a brief appearance during the discussion on investment in the sport industry, you can find out what he said here.
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12:15 -听黑料社区 will be doing more than many Western countries to tackle climate change by the end of the decade, Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman (pictured below), the Kingdom鈥檚 energy minister, told a panel of energy leaders on day one. READ MORE HERE.
And to back that claim up,听Saudi Aramco's Amin Nasser said the firm听had听been taking advantage of accelerated technology to build its reliability in the market as well as decreasing carbon emissions. READ MORE HERE.
12:00 - It was an intense day of discussions on Wednesday as the FII kicked off virtually, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. If you want to catch up on what happened on day one, click here.
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