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* Forum avoids repeat of last year's boycott over Khashoggi
murder
* But fewer deals signed and crown prince did not speak
* Attendees lured by Aramco IPO, chance to pitch own offers
By Stephen Kalin, David Lawder and Davide Barbuscia
RIYADH, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's crown prince
showed up only briefly this week at the kingdom's flagship
investment forum, which largely drew leaders and firms with
strategic interest in the Gulf state and wrapped up with
relatively meagre deals and an anticlimactic finale.
It was a far cry from the inaugural Future Investment
Initiative (FII) in 2017 when Mohammed bin Salman, embraced then
by the West as a bold reformer, shared his vision of a modern,
tolerant kingdom that would build futuristic cities.
However, as Riyadh prepares to assume the Group of 20
presidency, its ability to once again draw big names after a
Western boycott of last year's event showed it starting to
recover from the damage to the prince's image that followed the
murder of a prominent Saudi journalist.
"The staging of this edition of the FII felt as though the
kingdom is about to turn a corner as investors begin to take
another look at the opportunities, though many chose to keep a
low-profile," said Neil Quilliam, senior research fellow at
Britain's Chatham House think-tank, who attended.
Some participants, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
unease remained about the October 2018 killing of Jamal
Khashoggi inside the kingdom's Istanbul consulate - which Prince
Mohammed admitted had taken place under his watch but denied
ordering. The CIA and some Western governments believe he did.
"I don't think any of us feel that things are all back to
normal. There are still a lot of unanswered questions," a
Europe-based executive said, but added the region was important
for transformative technologies.
Some said that for Riyadh to be more fully rehabilitated it
would need to show it had turned the corner on foreign policy
missteps like the Yemen war and domestic moves including locking
up dissidents and a 2017 corruption purge that turned the
Ritz-Carlton hotel -- the host venue for the conference -- into
a gilded prison.
"They need to keep doing good things and not make any more
mistakes. Eventually things will even out,” said a Western
banker in attendance, adding that Khashoggi's murder "is not
going away for a long time".
FAMILIAR FACES, LITTLE BUZZ
Wall Street, lured by a planned flotation of Saudi oil giant
Aramco, turned up at the four-day event. Some chief executives
who stayed away last year were here this year, including those
from HSBC, Blackstone and BlackRock. J.P. Morgan and Goldman
Sachs sent senior executives.
SoftBank Group Corp founder and CEO Masayoshi Son
took the stage again after cancelling his speech last year. In
2017, seated beside Prince Mohammed, he pledged to a packed room
to invest in the kingdom's then-newly announced $500 billion
NEOM mega-city.
When he spoke again on Wednesday, the hall was largely
empty. Prince Mohammed was absent.
The de facto Saudi ruler, who never addressed the forum,
attended remarks on Tuesday by the Jordanian and Indian leaders
and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, with whom he has a
close relationship.
Unlike last year, when he broke his silence onstage over
Khashoggi's killing, Prince Mohammed did not linger for selfies.
An American participant said the presence of a large U.S.
delegation, including the treasury and energy secretaries, was
unsurprising given President Donald Trump's support for the
kingdom after the murder, but that it did not reflect broader
opinion.
"The animosity in Congress is remarkable, from the interns
up to the representatives," the participant said. "There are
fewer CEOs (than in 2017). They do not want to be seen here."
The conference started with a buzz, as a break-dancing
troupe and face-recognition screens greeted a standing-room only
crowd. But by Thursday attendance had thinned -- until rumours
surfaced that Prince Mohammed would speak, filling seats. He
never showed.
SCANT DEALS
In a sign that a conference aimed at showcasing Saudi
Arabia's future away from oil was losing lustre, only $20
billion in investment agreements were announced, compared to $56
billion at last year's event where Aramco clinched most deals.
World leaders addressing the event, including from Jordan,
Brazil, Nigeria and Kenya, pitched their own economies, while
tech firms used sessions to promote their products.
"I'd liked to have seen greater emphasis on the progress of
the reform plans that are integral to Vision 2030," said Nomura
Asset Management's Tarek Fadlallah.
As the top global oil exporter and the Arab world's largest
economy, Riyadh's diversification drive has drawn big interest,
particularly in capital markets, said Richard Lacaille of State
Street Global Advisors.
"Some of the Saudi projects they are planning are really
ambitious and very big. Many of them are feasible, such as
opening up Saudi Arabia’s tourism," he said.
Social reforms have spurred development of the entertainment
and tourism industries, but mega-projects such as NEOM have seen
little tangible progress.
Most investors remain focused on the long-awaited Aramco
offering, which has suffered several false starts. The Saudi
energy minister assured the audience on Wednesday it would "come
soon".
(Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar, Rania El Gamal and Marwa
Rashad
Writing by Ghaida Ghantous
Editing by Frances Kerry)
