Dozens of top business leaders from around the world have pulled out of the Future Investment Initiative as questions mounted over the Saudi government's role in the killing of Khashoggi, a dissident journalist who disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Saudi billionaire businesswoman Lubna Olayan, who chaired a crowded first session of the conference at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, said her thoughts were with Khashoggi's family.
"I want to tell our foreign guests that the terrible acts reported in recent weeks are alien to our culture," Olayan said, adding that she was confident that the truth would emerge.
The exodus of top executives — including the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Uber and Siemens (SIEGY) — has taken the shine off the showcase event hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been trying to modernize the country's oil-dependent economy.
The prince, who has poured Saudi money into tech companies around the world and hung out with Silicon Valley's biggest names, is now grappling with the international outcry over what happened to Khashoggi.
Members of bin Salman's inner circle have been blamed for the Washington Post columnist's death. The Saudi government, which had initially claimed Khashoggi left the consulate alive, has since admitted he was killed inside the building but insisted it was a "tremendous mistake" and the result of a "fistfight."
That explanation has drawn skepticism, including from US President Donald Trump who said Monday he was "not satisfied" with what he'd heard.
Total in, Siemens out
Organizers of the Riyadh conference, widely known as "Davos in the desert," hope it will be business as usual despite the loss of so many top names, including US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the CEOs of HSBC (HSBC) and Blackrock (BLK), and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde.
Heads of state from Pakistan, Senegal, and Gabon as well as Arab states were at the event, plus a delegation of Russian entrepreneurs, executives and officials.
"We have a big delegation from Russia and our friends from China are also here. Everybody is very excited about Saudi," said Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of The Russian Direct Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund.
The list of speakers for Tuesday's sessions features far fewer global figures than an earlier version that was posted on the conference website.
One of the highest profile CEOs still attending is Patrick Pouyanné, the chief of French oil company Total (TOT).
Pouyanné said in a statement Monday that while he respects the decision of some leaders to skip the conference, he believes that "boycotts and withdrawing investment only hurt the ordinary people of the country."
"I am convinced that an 'empty chairs at the table' strategy serves no useful purpose, especially when it comes to respect for human rights," he said.
His comments contrasted with those of Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser, who explained in a LinkedIn post earlier Monday why he eventually decided to pull out of the conference.
"As soon as I heard of his death, it was clear to me that we couldn't simply move on and do business as usual," he wrote. "We in Germany should know from our history what it can lead to if people stay out of trouble and don't speak up till it is too late."
Kaeser said he had tried to strike the "right balance between values, interests and timing" after receiving "hundreds, if not thousands, of e-mails" urging him not to attend.
Still talking business
The lack of big names won't prevent discussions about future business opportunities. Some companies, such as JPMorgan and HSBC, are sending less senior executives, despite their CEOs withdrawing. And the head of Morgan Stanley's (MS) international business, Franck Petitgas, is listed on the conference app as a speaker.
American and European businesses clearly want to keep channels of communication open amid the furor around the conference.
Some of them are pointing to their decades-long ties to the Saudi government and their large numbers of employees in the kingdom.
Business links to Saudi Arabia are particularly strong among companies involved in the energy and weapons industries. The CEO of defense contractor Raytheon (RTN), Thomas Kennedy, is still listed as a speaker at the event.
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