18 October 2018•Update: 18 October 2018
By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal and Omer Aydin
LONDON / PARIS / THE HAGUE
Amid the international controversy over a missing Saudi journalist, top British, French and Dutch economic officials on Thursday joined an exodus of leaders cancelling plans to attend an economic conference in Saudi Arabia.
Liam Fox, Britain’s secretary of state for international trade, "decided the time is not right" for him to travel to the Saudi conference, Sky News reported a government spokesperson as saying, adding that the U.K. remains "very concerned" about the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Public Senat, the Senate's broadcaster, that he would not attend the Future Investment Initiative on Oct. 23-25, hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
Le Maire stressed that the decision would not threaten the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra has also canceled plans to attend, said Foreign Minister Stef Blok, citing the Saudi government’s failure to provide a satisfactory explanation for Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Blok also said trade visits planned for the next month in Saudi Arabia would not be “reasonable” at the political level.
Thinning attendance
Participation in the conference is thinning, with many major figures announcing that they would not attend due to the Khashoggi issue.
On Wednesday, IMF head Christine Lagarde announced her cancellation, joining 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.
Richard Bronson, Virgin Group chairman, also earlier suspended his partnership with Saudi Arabia over a space tourism project.
Khashoggi is feared killed after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul 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.
