São Paulo – The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced this Thursday (23) that they will co-organize a foreign direct investment (FDI) summit meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in October. The forum will run prior to the G20 trade and investment ministerial meeting, to run in the Saudi capital too.
According to a press release made public by SAGIA, the event aims to re-energize the global FDI landscape, thus stimulating global growth. According to UNCTAD, global FDI flow slid by 1% last year from 2018, to USD 1.39 trillion.
During the meeting, businesspeople, representations of government and civil society organizations will try to identify long-term solutions to challenges affecting FDI and global economic growth. “FDI has the potential to transform economies by fostering competition and sharing expertise,” SAGIA governor Ibrahim Al Omar was quoted as saying in the release.
In November, Saudi Arabia will host the G20 Summit, the forum for heads of states and governments from the world’s 19 largest economics plus the European Union. The announcement of the partnership between SAGIA and UNCTAD was made during the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
James Zhan, director of Investment and Enterprise Division at UNCTAD, said that Saudi Arabia has posted an FDI increase for two consecutive years. “It reflects the strong investor confidence in the country and the success of reforms under Vision 2030,” he said, referring to Saudi pluriannual program for opening and diversifying its economy.
According to a report published earlier this week by UNCTAD, the Arab country received USD 4.6 billion in FDI last year, up 9% from a year before. Brazil was also against the global trend and received 26% more funds in 2019, to USD 75%.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
