DUBAI: Day two of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) event in Riyadh will again gather more than 6,000 participants – from policymakers, investors, entrepreneurs to young leaders – for discussions on topics ranging from geoeconomics to gaming. During Tuesday’s sessions, delegates explored issues such as supply-chain disruption, the growing demand for travel since the lifting of pandemic restrictions, e-commerce, cybercrime, and the widespread problem of rising inflation. Saudi Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih in a plenary session said that the energy crisis in Europe will accelerate the oil and gas sector’s transition to renewables and hydrogen. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, in a separate session, meanwhile said that some were using their emergency stocks and using it as a mechanism to manipulate markets when its purpose should be to mitigate any shortages of supply. Princess Reema bint Bandar, the Kingdom’s ambassador to Washington, also explained that the current discord between Saudi Arabia and the US was “not political” but “purely economic.” Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the Riyadh event, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment signed five investment agreements in the aerospace (Boeing and Orbitel), technology (Ginkgo Bioworks and Taihan Cable & Solution) and finance (BTG Pactual) sectors to further cement its emerging positioning in global value chains. Working with the year’s theme ‘Investing In Humanity: Enabling a New Global Order,’ today’s opening plenary will have Nelson Peltz, chief executive and founding partner of Trian Partners, discuss how to ensure success for and through the long-term – across the world, amidst decades of change and turbulence. Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan, Saudi Arabia’s minister of finance, meanwhile will sit with his Bahraini counterpart Sheikh Salman Khalifa Alkhalifa and Steven Mnuchin, founder and managing partner of Liberty Strategic Capital, in a plenary on power players whose decisions impact global finance. Other plenary sessions during the day include the rise of geoeconomics, the energy transition calibrating the new energy economy, financing net zero and building a better crypto economy.