Riyadh—Saudi Arabia has become the key place that provides solutions to global supply chain problems, said the kingdom’s investment minister Khalid Al Falih.
Al Falih was speaking at a session, The New Global Order: View From The State Room, during the Sixth Edition of the Future Investment Initiative that began on Tuesday in Riyadh.
The session, The New Global Order: View From the Board of Changemakers, which was chaired by Yasser bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, Governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund, stressed on the immense transformation brought about by the technological developments in the recent past.
More than 1.1 billion people were able to get out of poverty between 1990 and 2015 and consumer-centric technological developments such as smartphones have increased productivity and enable creativity
The session stressed that technology seems more than ever capable of pushing humanity into its next transformational era if humanity itself and all its aspects do not stand in the way of progress.
Participants asked about humanity’s collective vision of a new world order, the ways in which investors and business leaders can contribute to innovations that enhance human capabilities around the world, and whether a multipolar order creates – or hinders – opportunities for collaborative progress.
“I firmly believe the new global order will be shaped by the discussions we have, the plans we make here at the FII in the coming days,” al-Rumayyan said.
Nicknamed ‘Davos in the Desert,’ the FII is intended to attract foreign capital to Saudi Arabia as it transitions away from its oil-based economy. More than 7,000 delegates are attending, as well as more than 500 speakers.
This year’s conference is being held under the theme of ‘Investing in Humanity: Enabling a New Global Order.’
George Osborne, Former First Secretary of State & Chancellor of the Exchequer, United Kingdom: The US and China need to find a way to work together in order to make the world a better place.
Senegal’s president Macky Sall, who was the only speaker at the session, Africa in the New Global Order, said that some rules and policies that came into existence post WW II are not fair to many Asian and African nations.