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MBS's first US trip since Khashoggi's killing in 2018

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MBS promises to boost US investment to $1 trillion

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Event includes top US executives from various sectors

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Nov 19 - Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed

bin Salman will rub shoulders with many of Corporate America's

most powerful executives on Wednesday, a day after President

Donald Trump reintroduced him to official Washington with a

glowing endorsement from the White House.

The CEOs from Chevron ( CVX ), Qualcomm ( QCOM ), Cisco ( CSCO ), General Dynamics ( GD ) and

Pfizer ( PFE ) will attend the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at the

Kennedy Center in Washington, according to the event's program,

as well as senior executives from IBM ( IBM ), Alphabet's Google,

Salesforce ( CRM ), Andreessen Horowitz, Boeing, Halliburton ( HAL ), Adobe,

Aramco, State Street and Parsons Corp. ( PSN )

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen

Huang will take part in a discussion on advances in AI at the

forum.

It is the first trip by bin Salman to the U.S. since the 2018

killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in

Istanbul, which caused a global uproar. U.S. intelligence

concluded that bin Salman approved the capture or killing of

Khashoggi, a prominent critic.

The crown prince denied ordering the operation but

acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom's de facto ruler.

Bin Salman arrived in Washington ready to talk about Trump's

favorite topic, investments in the U.S. Sitting next to Trump in

the White House, bin Salman promised to increase his country's

U.S. investment to $1 trillion from a $600 billion pledge he

made when Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May. But he offered no

details or timetable.

A $1 trillion investment in the U.S. would be difficult for

Saudi Arabia to pull together given its heavy spending on an

already-ambitious series of massive projects at home, including

futuristic megacities that have gone over budget and faced

delays and stadiums for the 2034 World Cup.

Trump will attend the investment forum event that will

include a wide range of companies, many of which are expected to

announce investments in Saudi Arabia.

The president himself could benefit from closer business ties

with Saudi Arabia. He and several of his confidants have forged

business deals with Saudi partners in real estate and other

investments.

But on Tuesday, Trump sought to distance himself from any

suggestion of a conflict of interest. "I have nothing to do with

the family business," he told reporters, adding that "They've

done very little with Saudi Arabia actually."

In May, during Trump's four-day Middle East trip, the

U.S. and Saudi Arabia announced billions of dollars in

investments in both countries that included defense and AI

deals.