The annual Future Investment Initiative, also known as “Davos in the Desert,” is underway in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. Financial titans like JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser and Larry Fink of Blackrock are expected to attend.

The big draw is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. He holds the purse strings to a Saudi government sovereign wealth fund called the Public Investment Fund, worth about $700 billion.

“Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio spoke with the BBC’s Middle East business correspondent Sameer Hashmi for a preview of the conference and the role this fund plays during it. Below is an edited transcript of their conversation.

David Brancaccio: So, give us some context for this event. It’s a biggie for the financiers.

Sameer Hashmi: So basically, this event or conference was started by Saudi Arabia about 7 years ago. And it is their flagship investor summit, where basically they use this event as an opportunity to pitch Saudi Arabia as a destination for investment. Now, this is basically one of the core programs of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. Now, this is basically a program that was launched by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who’s the de facto ruler of the country, where the government is trying to diversify the economy away from fossil fuels, because Saudi Arabia generates more than 40% of its income from oil exports.

Brancaccio: Yeah, and really at the center of this is that huge pot of gold, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Hashmi: If you talk about the Wall Street, a lot of companies, bankers, financiers have their eye on Saudi Arabia because, at the moment, they’re spending billions of dollars every year to attract investments to set up new companies across different sectors. And it’s also the other way around. The Saudis have the PIF [Public Investment Fund], have invested a lot in international firms and the security markets. We’ve seen that with the U.S. The Saudis have invested in a plethora of companies there, including Lucid, where they’ve increased their stake recently. The Saudis directly hold a lot of securities in the U.S. markets, which they have been increasing over the last few years.

Brancaccio: And despite the rising tensions in the Middle East and around the world with the Israel-Hamas war, a lot of people are still gonna show up at this thing.

Hashmi: Yes. I mean, so far, there haven’t been major cancellations, according to the FII, which is, you know, organizing this event. But of course, I think the big question during the summit is going to be the impact this war can have on the region — and specifically Saudi Arabia, because famously, during the second edition of the event a few years ago, [Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] had said that Saudi Arabia is the new Europe. And this is going to be the place to invest and not only Saudi Arabia, but the region. But of course, now we have seen this outbreak of this war between Israel and Hamas. There are concerns that this could spread to other parts of the region. And if that happens, how is that going to impact the economic climate in the region and also the investment opportunities?