The Saudi economy on the way of the wind , major international companies and banks withdraw from the International Conference in Riyadh
YemenExtra
Y.A
Saudi Arabia suffers from the worst political stage since the establishment of the state of the Saudi entity 80 years ago. The issue of the murder of the journalist Khashoggi caused the economy and politics of Saudi Arabia to face an uprising by most countries in the world, especially those in support of its campaign against Yemen. Whereas there will be economical punishments to be implemented soon, through the announcement of withdrawals of major international companies and the most famous businessmen from the so-called investment “the Desert Davos “.
Economists said that the failure of the Saudi international conference will lead to a global economic boycott of Saudi Arabia. Major international companies stopped investing in it since the Yemeni missile force started hitting the strategic depth in Riyadh and the ports of oil exports, as well as the campaign of arrests that reached dozens of Saudi businessmen and senior emirs of the ruling family on corruption charges were released without any investigations and trials but after paying financial deals to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The international withdrawals from the Desert Davos Conference, which was to be held in Riyadh from 23 to 25 this month to bring investment companies to Saudi Arabia after the decline of foreign investment by nearly 90%, since the beginning of the campaisgn on Yemen and to support the 2030 vision adopted by the Kingdom.
The withdrawals were not limited to investment companies, but television networks and major newspapers announced their non-participation in the conference, as well as international figures at the level of Western ministers, most notably the US Treasury Secretary as well as heads of companies and journalists, thus the conference failure was certain before its launch.
The state was forced to postpone the date of the conference for a later time and to avoid the failure , it invited Arab leaders to compensate the withdrawals from the conference, which came on Friday by a spokesman for the Saudi Investment Conference, who said that the Conference is moving forward to be held later this month with an updated program , which includes heads of state from the Arab world, Africa and Asia.
In a related context, a group of United Nations experts welcomed ,Friday, the withdraw from the conference, whereas the site of the United Nations published the welcomed the decision, considering the decision of a number of business leaders in the world to withdraw from a high-level investment conference scheduled in the Saudi capital Riyadh, October 23-25 , to voice their concern over the situation of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is a welcomed issue .
“The decision to withdraw from the conference underscores how companies can use their influence to address human rights concerns,” said Dante Bixi, the head of the Action Group on Business and Human Rights.
The practical steps that companies had to take to avoid causing harm to human rights were the focus of the expert group’s report to the General Assembly earlier this week. It is also the theme of this year’s United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva at the end of next month.
United Nations experts called for an independent international investigation about his disappearance, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Saudi Arabia and Turkey to ensure a prompt, comprehensive, effective, impartial and transparent investigation.
The working group consists of five independent experts, with balanced geographical representation. Its current members are Dante Bissy (President), Syria Deva (Vice-President), Elibeta Karska, Kenyet Gytho Moigai and Anita Ramasastry. The working group and special rapporteurs form part of the special procedures of the Human Rights Council. These special procedures are the largest independent expert body of the United Nations human rights system.
The site of YemenExtra carried out a careful monitoring of companies and institutions and personalities that announced their withdrawal so far
Official figures:
1 – US Treasury Secretary “Stephen Menuchin”
2 – British Trade Minister “Liam Fox”
3 – German Foreign Minister “Haikou Mas”
4. French Minister of Finance Bruno Lemerre
5. Dutch Minister of Finance Fobke Hoekstra
6-World Bank President Jim Young Kim
7. President of the International Monetary Fund “Christine Lagarde”
Businessmen:
8 – Executive Chairman of Societe Generale of France “Frederick Odia”
9- Chairman of the Board of BNB BNP Paribas of France “Jean Lemerre”
10. John Flint, HSBC’s Chief Executive Officer
11. Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters,
12- JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer, Jimmy Damon,
13 – President of the New York Stock Exchange “Stacy Cunningham”
14. David Schwimmer, CEO of the London Stock Exchange,
15-Chairman of Ford Company “Bill Ford”
16. The Executive Chairman of Master Card “Agaya Banga”
17. The Executive President of Google Cloud “Diane Green”
18- Obar CEO, “Dara Khososhahi”
19 – Chairman of the City of London Foundation “Catherine McGuinness”
20- Glencore Chairman Tony Hayward
21- Founder and Chairman of TPG Capital David Bonderman
22- BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink
23- Blackstone Chief Financial Officer Stefan Schwarzman
24. Viacom International CEO, Bob Baix,
25 – Businessman Steve Case, founder of AOL Online Services and Media, and chairman of the Case Foundation
26- CEO Sotheby’s “Tad Smith”
27- Chairman of the KKR Global Institute “General David Petros”
28- Credit Suisse Chief Executive Officer, “Tidjan Time”
29- Chief Executive Officer of Ventures (Kai-fu Lee)
30. Chief Executive Officer of Vergen Heberlopen “Rob Lloyd”
31- Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ATEC “Brad Kewell”
32 – Japanese company Nikai
Media professionals and organizations:
33- Fox Business Network of America
34. The New York Times
35- CNN American media network
36- CNBC World Economic Group
37. British Financial Times
38. Bloomberg Global News, Information and Financial Services Agency
39- The Economist of Britain
Patrick Soon Cheung, owner of the Los Angeles Times
41. Zanni Minton Pidos, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist
42. Andrew Sorkin, Journalist and Writer, The New York Times
43. Ariana Huffington, co-founder of The Huntington Post, who also resigned from the Advisory Board of the Conference.
A number of personalities and companies that cut off business relations with Saudi Arabia:
Billionaire entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, has announced that he will suspend his management of two Saudi tourist projects and that he will also suspend talks on his investment of $ 1 billion in the kingdom.
• Barack Obama’s former energy minister, Ernst Muniz, has suspended his role in advising Saudi Arabia on the $ 500 billion Smart City project.
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Smart City Project NEOM and former Vice President of the European Commission, Nelly Kroes, announced the suspension of his role in the Saudi project until new information in the case of Khashoggi’s disappearance.
• The Hollywood agency, Endeavor Contant, announced its withdrawal from a $ 400 million Saudi investment project.
• The political firm, BGR Group, stopped its dealings with Saudi Arabia.