Saudis Woo Billionaires in Rio as Wealth Fund Taps Latin America - Bloomberg
Under the banner “Invest in Dignity,” the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia let the world know it’s ready to do business in Latin America, hosting a three-day summit on Brazil’s most famous beach.
At the iconic Copacabana Palace hotel, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, gatekeeper to nearly $1 trillion of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign money, traded compliments. Billionaires Marcelo Claure, David Velez and Marcos Bulgheroni, as well as former Trump administration officials like Mike Pompeo, later took the stage, along with the CEOs of Brazilian commodities giants Vale SA and Petrobras. A samba group moved through the crowds.
“Brazil and Saudi Arabia are part of the global south,” Lula told attendees on Wednesday. “We can’t go through another century only depending on the north.”
Organized by the Future Investment Initiative Institute, a nonprofit linked to the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, the conference in Rio de Janeiro is part of the kingdom’s push to raise its profile and diversify its oil-dependent economy by tapping into resource-rich Latin America. For Brazil’s political and business leaders, it was a rare chance to mingle with the entourage around the Public Investment Fund’s Al-Rumayyan and the billions of dollars that are doled out each year.
No major new accords were announced, but those in attendance got a taste of Brazil’s natural beauty and political turbulence.
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