Thank you, Your Excellencies. It's wonderful to welcome you and see you again here in the United States. We are proud to sponsor these companies and the team that has brought them to our country, along with all the changes you have made. We will begin.
Everything we hear about is the activities happening in the Middle East and how they will affect the strategies of the Future Investment Initiative. It is an honor to return to Miami for the fourth time, where we hold the FII. Someone told me yesterday, 'Do you know how many times we've come?' I said perhaps it was the second or third time. He told me, 'No, this is the fourth time.' So, it is always a pleasure to return here.
I would like to start with three key messages. First, the microeconomy in Saudi Arabia remains strong and stable, and PIF is fighting for you while also strengthening its structure for resilience. We are patient, long-term investors. We look at our returns not just quarterly, but over decades, and we are committed to our investments around the world.
It is important to see what PIF is doing in terms of partnerships and the impact it has on global ecosystems. When we look at the FII across the world, where it participates in many activities and invests capital, what I would like to hear is: what are the next strategies for PIF, and how can we, as partners with PIF, participate and contribute? I always like to answer such questions and give you some background on what the Public Investment Fund is and what it has achieved, especially since it began in 1971 to build the nation.
It created many different sectors within the Saudi economy. The second phase was from 2015 to 2020, and we accelerated many different sectors. The third phase, from 2021 to the end of 2025, has seen many changes. We have put a lot of effort into more localization. So, we have done a lot in the local economy.
Now, back to your point about the evolution of our strategy. It changes constantly, completely in line with development. I hope we will talk about the five-year strategy in the coming weeks. This strategy, we want to get more people to work with us to encourage third-party capital to work with us. We have created the foundations and shaped them for many of these investments.
In the past strategy, we wanted to do most of the investments ourselves, and they were all equity. But now we are working in a better way, which is how we invite people to work with us. And I am not just talking about local investors who will come to work with us, but also international investors. And we have actually started to see some results with major asset managers, where they are establishing new funds with us to invest in the Saudi market.
It is truly impressive how PIF has taken institutions like the FII, which are major advocates, to invite parties to participate in the opportunities available. For a long time, Saudis were going to the world, but now we are inviting the world to come to Saudi Arabia. So, what are the ways we use to encourage investors to participate in the market? And how can we de-risk the investments, for example, through accessibility? How can we encourage these investors, as I said, to invest with you?
I remember the first time I visited the United States in 2015 as Governor of the Public Investment Fund, PIF. I tried to sit down with asset managers, and none of them knew who we were. So the main thing we tried to do was how to open Saudi Arabia and bring it to the world, how investors around the world would know what PIF is, the Public Investment Fund in Saudi Arabia, and what the investments in Saudi Arabia are and what they will look like.
We are now at a stage where we want to bring the entire world to come and invest in Saudi Arabia. Over the past ten years, we have laid the foundations for these investments and created the right environment for people to come and invest with us. It could be different types of investments; it is not necessary for them all to be equity or direct investments in our companies, but for them to come and work with us, perhaps in joint ventures.
And not just in terms of projects, but it could be, for example, data centers, databases, and sectors like pharmaceuticals and renewable energy, which we also want to invest in and make one of our major goals. One of the things that is impressive is that as investors from America, we have about $20 billion in America across different sectors, for example, transportation and sports. It seems that PIF is trying to encourage investors to take a leap towards those activities.
I remember times when you invited local and foreign investors, and now how do you encourage us as investors to interact with you in specific sectors within the company portfolio you have created over the past ten years? Exactly, this is what we are trying to achieve now in this new phase of our strategy. What we are trying to do is basically encourage the private sector to work with us, whether locally or internationally.
I mentioned the company Red Sea Global, and I see Mr. Makano from this company. They are doing wonderful development, as are about 19 hotel operators around the world. We invited them to work with us. Perhaps the initial work we have achieved is setting the stage and the right environment for others to come and work with us.
And the work is not just through hotels and hotel operators, but also by looking at infrastructure. How can we bring people to work on different types of infrastructure? Partnerships do not have to be just equity; they could be, for example, public-private partnerships where our partners come to work on the ground, and we will, in turn, take the risks from them. So, risk mitigation is one of the key things we are trying to do in most of our projects in the Kingdom.
When we look at technology, it has empowered us to get these products. How do you see the AI ecosystem developing, and how will PIF and the Kingdom look at the ecosystem to benefit from AI, not just nationally but for your partners? I always say from the beginning that AI is not a race; we must think about it and set the stage for it. And I think that in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as a country, we are in a good position to benefit from AI.
We have access and ownership, and this was one of the main obstacles. When we look at AI, and the TPU, GPU, and all the other acronyms you can use, for example, the GPU, we have the energy, and this is important because this energy can be used to set up data centers and their facilities. We have the right ecosystem, and we have the correct treatment from the government for AI users.
As we discussed before, AI for us is not the end product. The end product is what our companies do, how they can be more efficient, reduce costs, and fulfill their promises to customers. This is how we want to benefit during our work with AI as a major tool. We have invited most of the partners from the United States, like Microsoft, Google, and Oracle, all to come and work with us, and they have actually done so.
I think the development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the best in the world, even when we talk about using AI. Aramco is also actually using AI, where they have reduced the cost of oil exploration by about 20% and improved the delivery method by about 30% for their final product.
And the last question now. First, congratulations on everything you have produced with the Future Investment Initiative, as it supports PIF to ensure not only that the conference will be exceptional. What do you say to the audience here so they take it away after attending and with all of you here, so we ensure they benefit from something from this conference? I advise them to come to the fifth FII in Miami. That is what I advise them.
And to follow up on what Richard said in his opening remarks, the topic is not just about the dialogue, but what we can benefit from and take away, in addition to the information. The relationships we are building are the best platform for people to actually network. Networking is extremely important, just as it is in our lives. We cannot achieve many of the things we want to achieve without good networks.
And I think the FII, with its presence in an institution, in addition to networking, is transferring knowledge from people, not just the speakers, but the audience and participants who come here and who improve. And the conference will continue to improve as we increase the FII's activities. I would like to thank you very much for your commitment to the United States and for the partnerships and integrating them into the development ecosystem. And with that, we hope for everyone to have a successful Future Investment Initiative in Miami in 2026. Thank you very much.
