Out of all of the foreign investment sources that have pumped cash into South Florida real estate, financial institutions, and new businesses over the years, Saudi Arabia is a nation that at best has a nominal presence in the region.

But this past week, amid a major public relations lift from President Donald Trump at a Miami Beach investment conference sponsored by the country’s Public Investment Fund, the oil-rich nation announced plans to locate an investment office in Miami, its second in the U.S. after Washington, D.C.

In addition to placing investments domestically, Saudi Arabia will use the office as a “gateway” to South America, Minister of Investment Khalid Bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih told an audience at a Thursday panel discussion,  “Enabling Purpose: How to Create Resilient Economies for Uncertain Times.” The panel included Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez, who made the announcement official.

“It seems like it was just yesterday that I was in Riyadh announcing that FII was coming to Miami,” Suarez told the audience. “In line with the city’s emphasis on being the capital of capital, and strengthening its ties to the countries in the Middle East … today we are announcing the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia is opening an Invest Saudi office here in the City of Miami.”

In turn, Al-Falih thanked the mayor “for believing in the kingdom. The mayor has  been coming for a number of years. I met him for the first time in Jeddah. He met his royal highness; he has been a regular visitor and believer in Saudi Arabia. He has also demonstrated to us what leadership is like at the city level.”

“We’re opening a new pathway for inbound investment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also for facilitating outbound investment,” Al-Falih added. “We are confident that this office, once it is open, is going to be a key link for all of you investors from around the world into the kingdom and for us to know about the opportunities that are open through Miami.”

Possible economic impacts

One South Florida-based business analyst said the Saudi office could produce economic gains for Florida.

“The opening of a Saudi investment office in Miami may signal a strategic move to strengthen economic ties between Saudi Arabia and the Southeast U.S., as well as Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Danny Castro, tax market managing principal at the international accounting firm BDO.

“With Miami’s position as a global business hub, this office could serve as a bridge for inbound investment in sectors such as real estate, technology, logistics, and infrastructure,” he said. “Given Saudi Arabia’s broader $600 billion investment pledge in the U.S., we could see capital flowing into large-scale development projects, financial services, and emerging industries aligned with Vision 2030’s economic diversification goals.”

The state of Florida’s foreign trade and investment apparatus does not appear to have any role in the operation. Select Florida, the state’s official international commerce organization, which maintains an office in Coral Gables, makes no mention of the proposed Saudi office or the FII Priority Summit on its website.

The agency did not respond to emailed and phone inquiries.

In a 2024 report on foreign direct investment in Florida, the agency concluded that the state of Florida ranked No. 5 nationally with 358,200 jobs generated between 2011 and 2021 by businesses that are  “majority owned” by foreign interests.

European-controlled businesses topped the list in providing employment with 216,300 jobs, Canada was second at 62,500; the Asia/Pacific region was third with 41,900; Latin America, the Caribbean and Mexico were fourth at 24,200, and the Middle East was fifth at 4,800 jobs.

Through their public-private economic development agencies, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties individually court businesses, foreign and domestic, with the objective of attracting regional corporate operations or the relocation of company headquarters.

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, the agency for Broward, said its most recent foreign investor projects included Ontic, the maker of aerospace parts, which announced an expansion in Miramar that will employ 88 people. Doroni, the developer of “flying cars,” employs 15 people in Pompano Beach.

El Al, the national airline of Israel that started flights to Tel Aviv out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport last year, employs 44 people, the agency said. It also moved its U.S. headquarters to Broward from New York.

Investors see future with Saudis

For now, Florida’s Saudi connection appears to be centered in Miami-Dade County, the byproduct of connections established by Trump and the mayor.

The Future Investment Initiative conference, which started Wednesday with a command kickoff performance by Trump before a packed audience at the Faena Hotel & Forum on Collins Avenue, has evolved into a continuing effort by Saudi Arabia to expand its business connections with top corporate leaders in the U.S. In turn, many entrepreneurs and investors use the occasion to gain a foothold in the Arab nation.

“The FII PRIORITY Summit, powered by the FII Institute, is returning for its third edition with an important call to action for global leaders and investors: ‘Invest with Purpose,’” summit promoters said in advance notices to the media.

In his Wednesday speech, Trump touted his own successes as operator of the Doral golf resort in Miami-Dade and marketer of local condominium projects through his own name brand.

He thanked Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, de facto ruler of the Saudi Kingdom, for hosting U.S.-Russia talks in Riyadh to end the war in Ukraine. The prince has pledged to invest $600 billion in the United States. Trump is seeking much more, according to reports.

He called Saudi Arabia “a special place with special leaders.”

During Trump’s speech, billionaire adviser Elon Musk, who has been leading the president’s charge to cut the ranks of government, sat in the front row next to Yasir al-Rumayyana, governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and past adviser who started a private equity firm with $2 billion from a sovereign wealth fund chaired by the crown prince, was also in the audience.

“In less than a single month the Department of Government Efficiency has already saved over $55 billion and we’re just getting started,” Trump said. “That’s nothing compared to the numbers we’re talking about, right?”

“We will rapidly grow our economy by dramatically shrinking the federal government and we’ll have to do it,” he said, adding he intends to reverse the “radical left’s wrecking crusade” against the oil and natural gas industries.

Aligning with Trump’s agenda

As they did last year, elites from technology, Wall Street and sports and entertainment made appearances. They included billionaire hedge fund operator Kenneth Griffin of Citadel, who is moving his company to Miami and who sat on the panel with Suarez and Al-Falih.

Griffin said he appreciated the Trump Administration’s focus on growing the nation’s economy and enhancing productivity through technology.

“The one area the Trump Administration is spot-on-right about is we have to grow our economy,” he said. “You talk about investing with a purpose: The nation that’s rich in financial resources and a nation that’s rich in intellectual capital, is a nation that can solve any problem. If you lack either of those two you are truly rudderless. The focus in America in increasing productivity is spot-on-the-right focus.”

Silvina Moschini, the Miami-based founder of Unicorns, is developing a digital platform designed to help entrepreneurs secure funding while providing investors with access to high-potential companies. She told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that she has visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai and garnered support. But she said she was glad to see the Biden Administration leave office as its securities regulators were effectively blocking what she hopes to accomplish in the cryptocurrency field.

She said she expects strong support from Trump’s administration, which has pledged to grow crypto’s usage in the economy.

Human rights abuses: “Whitewashed?”

Despite the conference’s emphasis on growing the economy and making improvements in education, healthcare and the environment, human rights groups would not let it pass without raising the kingdom’s track record for suppressing dissent and political opponents.

“Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has used his unchecked control over the country’s nearly trillion-dollar Public Investment Fund to downplay and whitewash his abuses for years,” Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Hosting a glamorous investment conference in Miami is just the latest example of that kind of image laundering.”

The statement noted that a U.S. Senate subcommittee has investigated “Saudi influence in the U.S. via PIF investments and examining the risks of PIF investments in the U.S. economy.”

A conference spokesperson did not respond to an emailed request for comment.