Korean businesspeople optimistic about Saudi Arabia's potential

FII Conference credited as venue to meet world’s biggest investors

By Park Jae-hyuk

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Senior executives of Korean companies doing business in Saudi Arabia did not expect the Middle Eastern country’s recent recession caused by weaker oil prices to thwart its Vision 2030 initiative aimed at increasing diversification economically, socially and culturally by 2030.

During the eighth Future Investment Initiative (FII) Conference in Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh, they indicated their companies’ intentions to continue betting on the country, based on an optimistic outlook for the feasibility of its long-term development program.

“From my point of view, the recent slowdown is a kind of correction, which will not lead to the total outflow of capital,” a Korean manufacturing firm’s head said on condition of anonymity, Wednesday (local time). “Saudi Arabia is the only stable Middle Eastern country where Western countries can invest in.”

Recognizing Saudi Arabia’s ceaseless efforts to reduce its reliance on petroleum for a sustainable future, he emphasized that the country deserved to defeat Korea last year in the competition to host the World Expo 2030, which he believes can be a turning point for the kingdom’s economy and society.

Another Korean conglomerate executive at the event mentioned the diligence shown by Saudi Arabians.

“Well-educated, high-level leaders even work on weekends as Koreans did in the 1980s,” he said on condition of anonymity.

The executive was sure of Saudi Arabia’s potential to reduce its economic dependence on oil, although he acknowledged the Middle Eastern country’s apparent move to scale down the NEOM urban development project amid the prolonged financial difficulties.

“Some people regard the nonoil policy as a gamble, but it seems that Saudi Arabia has been trying to bear a certain amount of losses for its next 50 and 100 years,” he said.

A representative of a Korean medium-sized enterprise that attracted investments from Saudi Arabia noted on Tuesday that the kingdom has changed rapidly, especially in terms of people’s mindsets.

“I have annually made a weeklong visit to Riyadh over the past four years, and whenever I come to the city, I have witnessed the completed construction of another village-sized infrastructure,” he said.

“Contrary to our company’s previous concerns over the quality of the country’s human resources, a growing number of Saudi Arabians have been eager to go to college.”

The businesspeople added that the FII Conference provided them with opportunities to meet with the world’s most influential investors, as well as their clients in Saudi Arabia.

“I was able to speak with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, when I lined up to enter the venue yesterday,” the conglomerate executive said.

“This year’s event is actually more helpful to our company, as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s attendance last year only attracted media attention without leading to fruitful results.”

The medium-sized enterprise representative, on the contrary, hoped that more Korean companies would participate in the FII Conference.

There was also a view that the event’s organizer failed to show Saudi Arabia’s stance on the world’s two largest economies — the United States and China — as it focused more on the Global South during this year’s conference.

“It remains unclear whether Saudi Arabia wants to coexist with them or seeks to compete with them,” the manufacturing firm’s chief said.