Breakfast Roundtable Meeting with Saudi Sheikh Abdulla Alireza

EisnerAmper, along with the law firm of Eaton & Van Winkle, recently hosted a breakfast roundtable featuring keynote speaker HE Sheikh Abdullah Alireza, former Saudi Minister of Commerce and Industry and vice chairman of the Saudi Arabian conglomerate Xenel Group.   Charly Weinstein, EisnerAmper’s CEO, greeted a senior group of business executives and Nick Tsafos, director and chairman of the board of EisnerAmper Global, led a roundtable discussion on current business conditions and commercial opportunities between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh Abdullah emphasized the long standing and close relationship between Saudi Arabia and the U.S.  He discussed the Saudi’s planned $45 billion dollar investment in SoftBank’s Vision Technology Fund and recent $3.5 billion investment in Uber.

Saudi Arabia, according to Sheik Abdullah, is diversifying its economy away from a heavy reliance on oil and focusing on other sectors such as education, health care, renewable energy, mining, defense, and downstream petrochemical products. There will be a particular emphasis on sectors that have the maximum potential for creating employment for Saudis and on growing businesses that can compete within the Middle East and globally. Behind these efforts is an overriding goal of knowledge transfer and creating an entrepreneurial culture.