Saudi Arabia impressed bankers and fund managers from around the world last week with the size of its economic ambitions but it may not have convinced foreign businessmen to pour in the billions of dollars needed to transform the kingdom.

At a lavish, three-day investment conference attended by over 3,500 people from 88 countries, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans for a $500 billion business zone reaching into Jordan and Egypt. Riyadh's main sovereign wealth fund said it would nearly double its assets to $400 billion by 2020.

The event, part of the kingdom's drive to free itself of reliance on oil exports in an era of cheap oil, attracted senior executives of global banks such as Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Bank of China and Mizuho.

Officials from China, Russia and Africa huddled with Saudi officials in a palatial conference venue.

But many executives - speaking privately to avoid endangering their chances of winning business - said they remained concerned about Riyadh's ability to execute its plans. Foreigners own only a little over four per cent of the stock market, and foreign direct investment has been running at under $10 billion a year.

"They have a decent vision, but also face steep hurdles," said a London-based executive of a trading firm that works closely with manufacturers. "The objective is to bring money here, but we are seeing companies wanting to take money out."

He said most international companies aimed to win supply contracts in Saudi Arabia, while banks were working for fees and commissions - but few companies were willing make make big, fixed investments in the country.

The conference was heavy on grand gestures. Prince Mohammed, the 32-year-old architect of Saudi economic reforms, took part in a panel discussion and held up an old-fashioned Nokia phone next to an iPhone to show the size of the change he planned.

At an exhibition previewing major development projects, visitors sat in a virtual reality roller coaster and interacted with a hologram of a lion. To underline its high-tech ambitions, Saudi Arabia granted citizenship to a robot named Sophia.

Source: Khaleej Times