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Saudi investment forum opens under haze of Khashoggi’s death

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A high-profile economic forum in Saudi Arabia began on Tuesday in Riyadh, the kingdom’s first major event on the world stage since the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul earlier this month.

Khashoggi’s death loomed large over the Future Investment Initiative forum and coincided with Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan’s claim Tuesday that Saudi officials murdered Khashoggi in their consulate after plotting his death for days. The Turkish leader demanded the kingdom reveal the identities of all involved in the killing, regardless of rank.

Saudi Arabia, which for weeks maintained Khashoggi had left the consulate, on Saturday acknowledged he was killed there in a “fistfight.” Turkish media and officials say a 15-member Saudi team was flown in to kill Khashoggi and accosted the writer in the consulate, cutting off his fingers before killing and dismembering the 59-year-old Washington Post columnist who wrote critically about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

As the Riyadh conference opened, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih described the killing as “abhorrent” in his speech.

The forum kicked off without some of its keynote speakers after numerous Western executives and officials cancelled plans to attend over Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 slaying.

“As we all know, these are difficult days for us in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Al-Falih said to attendees seated in the forum’s ornate hall.

“Nobody in the kingdom can justify it or explain it. From the leadership on down, we’re very upset at what has happened,” he added, referring to Khashoggi’s slaying.

The forum is the brainchild of Prince Mohammed and is aimed at drawing more foreign investment into the kingdom to help create desperately needed jobs for millions of young Saudis entering the workforce in the coming years.

International pressure is mounting against the prince, who did not attend the start of forum. Critics suspect the powerful crown prince ordered Khashoggi’s killing or at the least had knowledge of it.

Despite the absence of key executives and speakers from the United States and other Western partners, some $50 billion in deals were signed Tuesday at the forum with Russian and Asian businesses and officials eager to do business with the kingdom.

“Those partners who are here with us today to continue that journey with us are certainly going to look back and find out … how committed the kingdom is to its partners that stay the course,” Al-Falih said, just moments before several deals were inked on stage.

The forum last year grabbed headlines when Prince Mohammed wowed the crowd of global business titans with pledges to lead the ultraconservative kingdom toward “moderate Islam.” He also announced plans to build a $500 billion futuristic city in the desert.

At the time, Prince Mohammed spoke on stage alongside Stephen Schwarzman of U.S. private equity firm Blackstone.

Schwarzman is among those who’ve backed out of attending this year. Others include U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who met with Prince Mohammed separately before the forum, according to Saudi state television.

Among its many investments domestically and abroad, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which the crown prince oversees, has invested $20 billion in a U.S.-focused infrastructure fund with Blackstone.

The Public Investment Fund has also invested $3.5 billion in ride-sharing firm Uber, whose CEO Dara Khosrowshahi also backed out of attending this year’s forum.

Lubna Olayan, a Saudi businesswoman moderating the forum’s first session Tuesday, opened with remarks about Khashoggi.

“As we gather here in Riyadh this morning, it is natural that our thoughts tend to focus on recent events surrounding the death of Jamal Khashoggi — a writer, a journalist and a Saudi journalist known to many of us,” said. “May he rest in peace.”

She added that such “terrible acts … are alien to our culture and DNA.” Some in the crowd applauded her remarks.

Directors of the Saudi, Russian and United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth funds took part in the opening panel. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan headlined another session, with Jordan’s King Abdullah expected to speak at the forum on Wednesday.

“I think this conference will open the gateways to Asian and Russian investment in the Saudi economy regardless, irrespective if the crisis gets resolved or not,” said Ayham Kamel of Eurasia Group.

Aya Batrawy, The Associated Press



















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Kananaskis G7 meeting the right setting for U.S. and Canada to reassert energy ties

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Energy security, resilience and affordability have long been protected by a continentally integrated energy sector.

The G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, offers a key platform to reassert how North American energy cooperation has made the U.S. and Canada stronger, according to a joint statement from The Heritage Foundation, the foremost American conservative think tank, and MEI, a pan-Canadian research and educational policy organization.

“Energy cooperation between Canada, Mexico and the United States is vital for the Western World’s energy security,” says Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment and the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and one of America’s most prominent energy experts. “Both President Trump and Prime Minister Carney share energy as a key priority for their respective administrations.

She added, “The G7 should embrace energy abundance by cooperating and committing to a rapid expansion of energy infrastructure. Members should commit to streamlined permitting, including a one-stop shop permitting and environmental review process, to unleash the capital investment necessary to make energy abundance a reality.”

North America’s energy industry is continentally integrated, benefitting from a blend of U.S. light crude oil and Mexican and Canadian heavy crude oil that keeps the continent’s refineries running smoothly.

Each day, Canada exports 2.8 million barrels of oil to the United States.

These get refined into gasoline, diesel and other higher value-added products that furnish the U.S. market with reliable and affordable energy, as well as exported to other countries, including some 780,000 barrels per day of finished products that get exported to Canada and 1.08 million barrels per day to Mexico.

A similar situation occurs with natural gas, where Canada ships 8.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the United States through a continental network of pipelines.

This gets consumed by U.S. households, as well as transformed into liquefied natural gas products, of which the United States exports 11.5 billion cubic feet per day, mostly from ports in Louisiana, Texas and Maryland.

“The abundance and complementarity of Canada and the United States’ energy resources have made both nations more prosperous and more secure in their supply,” says Daniel Dufort, president and CEO of the MEI. “Both countries stand to reduce dependence on Chinese and Russian energy by expanding their pipeline networks – the United States to the East and Canada to the West – to supply their European and Asian allies in an increasingly turbulent world.”

Under this scenario, Europe would buy more high-value light oil from the U.S., whose domestic needs would be back-stopped by lower-priced heavy oil imports from Canada, whereas Asia would consume more LNG from Canada, diminishing China and Russia’s economic and strategic leverage over it.

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The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

As the nation’s largest, most broadly supported conservative research and educational institution, The Heritage Foundation has been leading the American conservative movement since our founding in 1973. The Heritage Foundation reaches more than 10 million members, advocates, and concerned Americans every day with information on critical issues facing America.

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Poilievre on 2025 Election Interference – Carney sill hasn’t fired Liberal MP in Chinese election interference scandal

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From Conservative Party Communications

Yes. He must be disqualified. I find it incredible that Mark Carney would allow someone to run for his party that called for a Canadian citizen to be handed over to a foreign government on a bounty, a foreign government that would almost certainly execute that Canadian citizen.

 

“Think about that for a second. We have a Liberal MP saying that a Canadian citizen should be handed over to a foreign dictatorship to get a bounty so that that citizen could be murdered. And Mark Carney says he should stay on as a candidate. What does that say about whether Mark Carney would protect Canadians?

“Mark Carney is deeply conflicted. Just in November, he went to Beijing and secured a quarter-billion-dollar loan for his company from a state-owned Chinese bank. He’s deeply compromised, and he will never stand up for Canada against any foreign regime. It is another reason why Mr. Carney must show us all his assets, all the money he owes, all the money that his companies owe to foreign hostile regimes. And this story might not be entirely the story of the bounty, and a Liberal MP calling for a Canadian to be handed over for execution to a foreign government might not be something that the everyday Canadian can relate to because it’s so outrageous. But I ask you this, if Mark Carney would allow his Liberal MP to make a comment like this, when would he ever protect Canada or Canadians against foreign hostility?

“He has never put Canada first, and that’s why we cannot have a fourth Liberal term. After the Lost Liberal Decade, our country is a playground for foreign interference. Our economy is weaker than ever before. Our people more divided. We need a change to put Canada first with a new government that will stand up for the security and economy of our citizens and take back control of our destiny. Let’s bring it home.”

 

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