Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Sh. Piyush Goyal  will be attending the 7th Edition of Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 24th to 25th October 2023. During the course of the event, the Minister would meet Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) dignitaries including the Energy Minister of KSA, His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman Al-Saud; Commerce Minister, His Excellency (H.E.) Majid bin Abdullah AlKassabi; Investment Minister, H.E. Khalid A. Al Falih; Industry and Mineral Resources Minister, H.E. Bandar bin Ibrahim AlKhorayef; and Governor Public Investment Fund (PIF), H.E. Yassir Rummayyan among others.

Shri Piyush Goyal will co-chair a conclave session on the theme “From Risk to Opportunity: Strategies for Emerging Economies in the New Industrial Policy Era” along with the KSA Investment Minister. He will interact with the Indian community that forms an influential part of the Saudi economy. He is also expected to meet business leaders and leading CEOs from across the world.

FII Institute is a global nonprofit foundation, launched by KSA. It aims to gather Government and business leaders from around the world to discuss new pathways for investment with the goal to create a global “Impact On Humanity”. Its four areas of focus are Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Robotics, Education, Healthcare, and Sustainability.

Theme for the 7th Edition of FII is “The New Compass” that focuses on the New Global Order. The event is expected to witness participation from world’s leading investors, business leaders, policymakers, inventors, and explorers. In subsequent meetings, the attendees will come together to deliberate and discover the new markets and navigate new frontiers of economic growth and prosperity.  

KSA is one of India’s most important strategic partners. The trade between both countries reached an all-time high of USD 52.75 billion in FY 2022-23. Cooperation between the two countries can also be witnessed with the establishment of India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC). Established in 2019, it aims to enhance the relationship between the two countries and has two main pillars: the ‘Committee on Political, Security, Social, and Cultural Cooperation’ and the ‘Committee on Economy and Investments’. India is the fourth country with which Riyadh has formed such a partnership, after the UK, France, and China.

In September 2023, the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and KSA Crown Prince, HRH Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud co-chaired the first summit-level meeting of SPC. The meeting focused on critical areas such as energy security, trade and investment, defence and security, healthcare and food security. The Prime Minister envisions cooperation between the two large and fast-growing economies of the world as this mutual cooperation is important for peace and stability in the entire region.

In this context, the presence of Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in the 7th FII is expected to further enhance the strategic partnership and joint cooperation between the two countries in various fields

Strategic partnership drives enhanced trade and investment cooperation through high-level participation in global investment forum engagements. The Union Minister will attend the 7th Future Investment Initiative to co-chair a conclave on industrial policy, meet senior ministers and investment leaders, engage global business CEOs and the expatriate business community, and pursue trade and investment linkages across priority sectors including AI, education, healthcare and sustainability within the framework of the Strategic Partnership Council to deepen economic cooperation and investment ties.