The davos in the desert gathering will not take place this year. Saudi Arabia has postponed its flagship Future Investment Initiative conference to 2027, its chief executive said on Monday, as the kingdom comes under repeated attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis. The annual conference, scheduled for 26 to 29 October in Riyadh, has for nearly a decade served as the showcase for Saudi Arabia’s efforts to attract global investors, business leaders and heads of state.
In a statement posted on X, FII Institute CEO Maha Al Saud said the gathering would instead take place in 2027, saying organisers wanted to ensure the anniversary edition delivered the “full scale” and “extraordinary quality” expected by participants. She said new dates would be announced soon, while current registrations and partnerships would remain valid.
The postponement deals a blow to the kingdom’s ambitions to draw foreign capital, diversify its oil-reliant economy and push its reform agenda. The 10th edition, themed ‘The Power of Legacy’, was expected to feature leading Wall Street executives including JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon, Blackstone chief Stephen Schwarzman, BlackRock chief Larry Fink and Citigroup chief Jane Fraser.
Davos in the Desert Falls Victim to Security Fears
The decision comes after Riyadh’s international airport, a repeated target of Houthi attacks, suspended operations earlier this month after 13 people were killed in a strike on 10 October, with no clear timeline for when air traffic could resume. It was the deadliest attack on the kingdom in more than a decade. The Houthis have also struck facilities of state oil company Aramco, intensifying pressure on the kingdom’s economic nerve centres.
Three sources familiar with the matter had earlier told AFP the conference would be postponed. One source said organisers “won’t announce a new date soon”, while another questioned who would be willing to “risk flying to Riyadh these days”. The FII statement did not mention the Houthi attacks, but the timing of the announcement left little doubt about the cause.
Davos in the Desert Postponement Ripples Across the Calendar
The FII is not the only casualty. The kingdom’s other major international conferences, including the trade exhibition Intersec Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Retail Forum, set for mid-November, were postponed to October 2027 and March 2027 respectively. The Six Kings Slam 2026 tennis tournament, due to begin this week, was previously delayed to late December. World Wrestling Entertainment’s Crown Jewel event is still scheduled for 7 November, though doubts are beginning to arise about whether it will proceed. The US State Department has issued a new warning to American citizens in the Middle East to exercise increased vigilance.
Since its first edition in 2017, the conference had only been cancelled once before, in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its uninterrupted run since has made it the crown prince’s flagship event for projecting Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation away from hydrocarbons towards tourism, sports and technology.
What the Delay Means for the Davos in the Desert Brand
S&P Global’s Daniel Yergin called the postponement a “reasonable decision” given the security environment. But the delay carries real costs: momentum behind Vision 2030’s investment drive is wavering just as the kingdom needs foreign capital most, and the empty October calendar will be read by markets as a measure of how seriously the security situation is biting.
For now, organisers insist the 10th edition will return bigger in 2027. Whether the world’s top financiers are willing to board flights to Riyadh will depend on something no conference statement can control: the trajectory of a conflict that has now reached the kingdom’s airports, its oil facilities and its most prestigious business stage.
A draft programme for this year’s edition had listed Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon, Standard Chartered chief Bill Winters and Citi chief Jane Fraser among the expected speakers, underlining the calibre of the gathering being deferred. For the executives who had cleared their diaries for Riyadh, the postponement is a logistical headache; for the kingdom, it is a reminder that even the most carefully staged investor showcase cannot be insulated from the region’s security realities.