French minister pulls out of Saudi economic conference

By Omer Aydin

PARIS (AA) - Amid the ongoing investigation on a missing Saudi journalist, a French minister announced Thursday that cancelled his plans to attend an economic conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

In an interview with Public Senat, the Senate's broadcaster, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he would not attend the Future Investment Initiative -- nicknamed "Davos in the Desert" -- hosted under the leadership of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, set to be held on Oct. 23-25.

"For the moment there are serious facts here," he said, adding that the case must be fully illuminated and thus he will not go to Riyadh.

Le Maire stressed the decision would not threaten the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Participation in the conference is thinning, with many major figures announcing that they would not attend due to the Khashoggi issue.

On Wednesday, the IMF head Christine Lagarde announced her cancellation, as previously had World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and executives of major global firms -- including Uber, Ford, AOL, Viacom, JPMorgan Chase, Google and the London Stock Exchange Group.

Khashoggi has long been feared killed at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul after he entered on Oct. 2 and was never seen exiting.

On that same day, 15 Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and visited the building while Khashoggi was still inside, Turkish police sources said. All of the identified individuals have since left Turkey.

Saudi authorities have yet to give a clear explanation of Khashoggi’s fate, while several countries -- particularly Turkey, the U.S. and the U.K. -- have expressed their desire that the matter should be elucidated as soon as possible.