As the ongoing Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh is discussing ways to address the turbulent conditions and the immediate economic pressures in the world, economy, trade, and investment ministers presented their ideas and strategies to adapt to the current global situation.
- Proactive outlook
Eng. Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi Minister of Investment, affirmed that his government has adopted a proactive outlook to counter accelerating challenges that have raised global concern. He listed three main challenges facing the world's governments, including long-term political and security transition, energy shift and transformation of trade and supply chains.
“Governments adapt and succeed in these turbulent times. The first realistic transition is the security and political shift. Of course, Europe is the main player in light of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, while the matter moves to China and Taiwan.”
The Saudi minister continued: “We are starting to see that countries have started strengthening their national and international security, as these challenges may continue for years…”
Al-Falih considered that the transformation at the level of energy, oil and gas represented the second challenge, which he said was inevitable due to climate change. The European crisis will increase its pace and will pave the way for the shift towards other types of energy, such as hydrogen.
Moreover, the minister saw that the third challenge was the transformation of trade and supply chains in light of globalization.
The three challenges highlight the urgent need for countries, companies and individuals for guarantees and security, he underlined, explaining that countries were spending huge amounts on defense technology and industries, which have become essential given the current conditions.
- Investment cooperation
Al-Falih said: “I discussed with the Finnish Minister of Investment the means to exchange ideas and experiences and reviewed the expenditures that we provide for defense.”
He admitted that energy would become expensive, as renewable energy sources would require new networks and modern infrastructure.
“These matters are controlled by the economic transformation and cause high inflation, elevated interest rates and high subscriptions, all of which lead to reduced growth and income,” he warned, stressing the need to focus on growth and exploitation of opportunities in technologies and investments.
- Standby mode
For his part, Ville Skinnari, Finnish Minister of Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, said: “The recent crises made us ready for all future crises, as we faced the pandemic, worked on comprehensive security and strengthened health care, so we became among the top 5 countries in terms of GDP.”
He added: “I see in the Investment Initiative forum, the commitment to a better future. This is what our governments are doing, as they focus on investments, the first of which investing in defense.”
He stressed that the forum constituted an opportunity to talk about the new era with partners, praising Saudi Arabia’s remarkable path of development and progress.
- Hong Kong and the capital
Paul Chan, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, stressed that the Hong Kong system would continue to support capital, in the presence of an independent judicial system.
“We will maintain our dealings with the US dollar and Hong Kong will continue to function as a free and best legally regulated financial market and international financial center,” he told the conference.
He continued: “Despite some external pressures and challenges, we consider 2023 as the year of security and opportunities because we have a wealth of experience that makes us excel. We have an urban area in the southwestern region with 9 million people and a per capita income of 70,000 dollars annually… We are also seeing significant progress in neighboring cities.”
Chan added that Hong Kong’s financial policy enjoyed high flexibility in communicating with the world.
