American Politics Looks at Them with Suspicion, but Wall Street Came to Say: You Are More Interesting to Us than Europe!

The American administration cannot hide its anger that their ally, Saudi Arabia, along with other OPEC+ members, has reduced oil production, which has not only harmed the U.S. directly but also benefits Russia. However, Wall Street is completely indifferent to these tensions in political relations.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, David Solomon from Goldman Sachs Group, and Franck Petitgas, head of international operations at Morgan Stanley, even Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Donald Trump, and Steven Mnuchin, who was the finance minister under the former president, along with many other heavyweights of the American financial industry, traveled to Riyadh this week to participate in the Future Investment Initiative conference, also known as the Desert Davos.

On the first day of the conference, they all sent the same message: they are not as concerned about the recession as they are about geopolitics and the war between Ukraine and Russia, as well as the relations between China and the U.S. When they addressed what troubles them, they came to say what truly interests them – Asia is in a growth phase and will be an excellent source of growth and investment, unlike Europe.

Investment opportunities will arise, as it was announced at the gathering that the Saudis plan to sell a stake in one of the world’s strongest companies, Aramco, valued at $85 billion. Additionally, Riyadh has serious ambitions to become the main logistics hub connecting East and West. All of this aligns with the Kingdom’s plan by 2030 to become and remain an energy power, not only through the oil industry but also through other ‘clean’ energies. Furthermore, Riyadh aims to become a desert Silicon Valley, a technological center and hub for tech startups, for which there is also a lot of money available, as well as a tourist destination for high-paying guests. For this latter plan, 20,000 people are already being trained.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia is the fastest-growing economy in the G20 group. The Kingdom also has its first budget surplus since Prince Mohammed came to power, allowing it to direct billions of dollars into stock markets and assets around the world and plan some of the most ambitious construction projects globally. In a slowing global economy, all of this makes Saudi Arabia irresistibly attractive to investors.