During the 2020 BMG Economic Forum, which took place on July 15, 36 high-level speakers discussed investment opportunities in Saudi Arabia, as the country moves into the next stage of recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. Speakers included Prince Abdullah bin Khaled bin Sultan, Saudi Ambassador to Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia, and permanent representative to the UN in Vienna; Bandar Alkhorayef, minister of industry and mineral resources in Saudi Arabia; and Stephen Groff, governor of National Development Fund.

The BMG Economic Forum, virtual for the first time, featured 36 government and business leaders as speakers during the six-hour event, which had 700 delegates signed up to attend.

“It was extremely encouraging to see such a high level of interest in investing in Saudi Arabia — and to see that despite the challenging global economic situation, businesses continue to look for investment opportunities and are keen to understand opportunities in emerging markets,” organizers said.

“Saudi Arabia is clearly on the map of global business leaders. The BMG Financial Group was pleased to offer investors around the world with such a wealth of insights into the Saudi market. Having government representatives and investors side by side, virtually, discussing how Saudi Arabia can become even more attractive to foreign investors made this event unique.”

Prince Abdullah and Groff provided an update about the Saudi G20 Presidency, which commenced just as the first cases of COVID-19 were reported. Prince Abdullah talked about the significant funds and support provided by the G20 under the Saudi presidency.

One of the recurring themes was the importance of government help to de-risk investment in infrastructure and other long-term projects. Groff said that one of the roles of development funds is to support and facilitate private sector investment and that there is a need for different financial instruments to encourage private sector investment and take some of the risk away.

Dr. Frank Appel, CEO of the Deutsch Post DHL, spoke about how the coronavirus crisis has affected consumer demand around the globe, which is why he said companies must change their approach.

The tourism sector was mentioned numerous times as a high-potential sector, which could become the biggest forex earner in the Kingdom.