{"id":2209,"date":"2026-03-24T16:39:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=2209"},"modified":"2026-03-24T16:39:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:39:45","slug":"as-war-continues-to-rage-the-world-economic-forum-is-the-latest-to-postpone-gulf-conference-in-saudi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/?p=2209","title":{"rendered":"As war\u00a0continues to rage,\u00a0the\u00a0World Economic Forum\u00a0is\u00a0the latest to postpone Gulf conference in Saudi\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When the bombs started raining down on Iran on February 28,\u00a0many business leaders hoped the conflict would be short\u00a0and the economic effects would be transient. Neither\u00a0has\u00a0turned out to be the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the latest sign that \u201cwar effects\u201d are becoming\u00a0embedded,\u00a0the World Economic Forum\u00a0is the latest\u00a0global\u00a0organization\u00a0to announce the\u00a0postponement\u00a0of\u00a0its key Gulf conference in Saudi Arabia, citing\u00a0\u201ccurrent regional developments\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The technology conference, Leap,\u00a0private\u00a0equity group, Partners\u00a0Group Holding AG, and JP Morgan have each announced\u00a0postponements or changes in venue since the war started.\u00a0The risk index for the\u00a0Gulf\u00a0economies\u00a0is rising.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of the current regional developments, and in close consultation with the Ministry of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia, the World Economic Forum will be rescheduling the Global Collaboration and Growth Meeting, which had been planned for April 2026 in Jeddah,\u201d WEF said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always been\u00a0an organization that has global reach,\u00a0multi-regional reach, and so\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0continue, in addition to Davos,\u00a0that\u00a0important role\u00a0of connecting people, leaders, stakeholders\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Mirek Dusek, head of global programming for WEF<\/p>\n

\u201cThis reflects a commitment to\u00a0convening\u00a0the meeting under conditions that ensure its full strategic impact. We\u00a0remain\u00a0committed to\u00a0facilitating\u00a0a forward-looking agenda for the region and beyond and will provide updates about the rescheduled meeting\u00a0in due course.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

We will be back, WEF is saying. This will be a relief to in-region\u00a0business leaders concerned that confidence\u00a0is, at present, only travelling in one direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Initial analysis at the beginning of March suggested that the positive\u00a0economic\u00a0momentum of\u00a0the\u00a0Gulf\u2014a center for innovation as well as liquidity\u2014would outweigh drone\u00a0attacks\u00a0and retaliation\u00a0strikes. As the conflict\u00a0drags\u00a0on, the data is becoming more negative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur analysis suggests that oil output this year\u00a0could fall by around 12% in Saudi Arabia and by 16% in the UAE,\u201d Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients\u00a0as\u00a0the\u00a0conflict entered its second week. \u201cIn Qatar,\u00a0Kuwait,\u00a0and Bahrain, we think oil output could fall by over 25% this year\u00a0in the event of\u00a0a prolonged war.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more: An AI jobs apocalypse? The CEO of Tech Mahindra is not so sure<\/p>\n

Second-order effects are also starting to bite.\u00a0The closure of\u00a0airports\u00a0and\u00a0the negative impact on tourism and real estate\u00a0sales\u00a0are obvious.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe estimate that the total potential contraction in real GDP this year ranges from 1% in Oman to 14% in Kuwait and Qatar,\u201d Goldman Sachs said. \u201cSaudi Arabia is moderately exposed, with a potential contraction in GDP of just over 3%, while the UAE could see a contraction of around 5%.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The region has built much of its\u00a0economic\u00a0forward momentum on its convening power. \u201cGet me to the\u00a0Gulf,\u201d was the regular request of chief executives hoping to find new markets and ways of thinking.\u00a0And in an age of increased\u00a0regionalization, it\u00a0was\u00a0events like WEF\u00a0Gulf\u00a0that\u00a0signaled\u00a0intent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I spoke to Mirek Dusek, Head of Global Programming for WEF, before the decision was taken on the Gulf. He\u00a0said\u00a0that, with geopolitical instability increasing, the Forum was becoming more significant, not less\u2014evidenced\u00a0by the attendance at the WEF\u2019s annual summit at Davos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did have overall record participation among the political leaders,\u00a0the business leaders, innovators and civil society leaders. What\u00a0was notable was that we really tried\u00a0to put\u00a0dialogue\u00a0first,\u201d Dusek said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were playing on\u00a0the\u00a0spirit of Davos, which is really the fact that the town of Davos has always had this spirit of really coming together for a conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we are\u00a0operating\u00a0in a more contested geo-political and geo-economic environment, and so we were not naive about this. We just wanted to make sure that we put front and center the need to have that conversation, even if people disagree.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always been\u00a0an organization that has global reach,\u00a0multi-regional reach, and so\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0continue, in addition to Davos,\u00a0that\u00a0important role\u00a0of connecting people, leaders, stakeholders.\u00a0We have\u00a0a\u00a0long-standing\u00a0tradition of\u00a0convening\u00a0our second-largest gathering in China every year, and we will be gathered in\u00a0Dalian\u00a0at the end of June. We call it the Annual Meeting of the New Champions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

WEF is committed to returning to the Gulf, which is welcome.\u00a0Business and political leaders there know that the\u00a0need for conversation\u00a0and the hunt for solutions\u00a0is\u00a0now\u00a0paramount.\u00a0<\/p>\n

#warcontinues #ragetheWorld #Economic #Forumisthe #latest #postpone #Gulf #conference #Saudi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the bombs started raining down on Iran on February 28,\u00a0many business leaders hoped the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[245],"tags":[400,5199,518,1343,5204,1032,1837,4275,4276,1313,5205,5203,679,5200,5202,5201],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}