Mnuchin, Kushner to Attend Saudi Arabia ‘Davos in Desert’ Forum

(Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Jared Kushner, a White House adviser and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, plan to travel to Saudi Arabia for an annual investment forum being held next week.They plan to stop first in Israel, according to people familiar with the matter. They’re departing this weekend and will be joined by Brian Hook, a U.S. State Department special representative for Iran.The investment forum, called the Future Investment Initiative, is a the three-day confab, known as “Davos in the Desert.” Held in Riyadh Oct. 29 to 31, the meeting is set to attract some of Wall Street’s top dealmakers, as well as representatives from major institutional investors across the globe.The Treasury Department declined to comment.Mnuchin last year boycotted the investment meeting after Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in Turkey. The Treasury chief still traveled to Riyadh in October 2018, meeting with Mohammed Bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince.The CIA has concluded that Prince Mohammed ordered Khashoggi’s murder, according to the Washington Post. Saudi Arabia’s reputation abroad has also taken a hit since the 2018 killing and the arrest of prominent women’s rights activists accused by authorities of undermining state security.(Updates with Khashoggi details in fifth paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at [email protected];Nick Wadhams in Washington at [email protected] contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at [email protected], Justin Blum, Joshua GalluFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.