Saudi Arabia and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will co-host annual high-level conference in the Saudi city of Al-Ula on February 16-17, 2025, to address the challenges facing emerging market economies and the opportunities available to them. This announcement was made in a joint statement issued by Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. The AlUla Emerging Markets Conference will bring together a distinguished group of finance ministers, central bank governors, policymakers, and public and private sector leaders from emerging markets, as well as representatives from international institutions and academia. It will provide a unique platform to exchange views on local, regional, and global economic developments and discuss policies and reforms aimed at stimulating inclusive prosperity and building resilience, supported by strong international cooperation, Al-Jadaan and Georgieva said. The statement drew attention to the challenges faced by the emerging economies, saying: "The world is facing deeper and more frequent shocks, including those resulting from conflicts, geo-economic fragmentation, pandemics, climate change, food insecurity, and the digital divide. If these shocks cannot be adequately addressed, they will pose risks to the hard-won improvements in living standards achieved by emerging market economies," the statement said, while noting that these setbacks will affect large segments of the world’s population and put global growth and macro-financial stability at risk. “Against this backdrop, the IMF and Saudi Arabia have agreed to co-host an annual high-level conference in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, to address the challenges and opportunities facing emerging market economies. The first event in this series will be held on February 16-17, 2025," the statement added.