The Growing Size and Role of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) in Saudi Arabia with Robert Mogielnicki, FII 2023, Saudi World Cup and more...

The 966

Dr. Robert Mogielnicki, Senior Resident Scholar at The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and professorial lecturer at George Washington University joins The 966 to discuss the growing size and role of the Kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Robert has previously characterized the PIF as, “screaming onto the scene” with an “everything, everywhere, all-at-once investment approach.” The 966 hosts dive into that, and many other PIF related topics and questions. Before that, the hosts discuss Richard's One Big Thing, the Saudi bid for the World Cup in 2034. Then, the hosts discuss Lucien's One Big Thing, the upcoming 7th FII Initiative in Riyadh in just a few weeks.

Richard's One Big Thing is Saudi Arabia's bid for the World Cup in 2034. The Saudi announcement came shortly after FIFA named Morocco, Spain and Portugal as hosts of the 2030 World Cup, with Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay hosting the opening matches to mark the tournament's centenary, per Reuters. "Saudi Arabia’s inaugural FIFA World Cup bid is backed by the country’s growing experience of hosting world-class football events and its ongoing plans to welcome fans across the world to the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup."

Lucien's One Big Thing is the upcoming 7th Future Investment Initiative which will take place in Riyadh in just a few weeks. The new theme and slogan (which it rolled out earlier this year) is “The New Compass." Lucien notes that in recent years, the FII conference in Riyadh was a truly massive and frankly an impressive sight to be seen, but that might change slightly in coming years as the FII Institute becomes established and serializes the event in different formats around the world throughout the year.

Dr. Robert Mogielnicki, Senior Resident Scholar at The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and professorial lecturer at George Washington University joins The 966 to discuss the growing size and role of the Kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Robert has previously characterized the PIF as, “screaming onto the scene” with an “everything, everywhere, all-at-once investment approach.” The 966 hosts dive into that, and many other PIF related topics and questions.