Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (CNN Business)Global business relationships that were carefully cultivated by Saudi Arabia have been badly damaged by the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, casting the kingdom’s economic reforms into serious doubt.
The kingdom had hoped an investment conference in Riyadh this week would be a star-studded celebration of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 program to transform the economy, attended by a who’s who of Silicon Valley, Wall Street and multinational corporations.
Most of the big names pulled out as details of Khashoggi’s death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul emerged. Having previously denied any knowledge of his death, Saudi Arabia now admits the killing was premeditated, and has promised to bring the perpetrators to justice.
