(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday became the latest company to drop out of a business conference in Saudi Arabia.
A Google sign is seen during the WAIC (World Artificial Intelligence Conference) in Shanghai, China, September 17, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song
Pressure has mounted on Saudi Arabia since prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi policies, went missing. He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
Google said in a statement that Google Cloud Chief Executive Diane Greene would not attend the Future Investment Initiative Summit scheduled to be held in Riyadh starting Oct. 23.
Google’s Greene did not offer a reason for her action, and a spokesman declined to elaborate.
Other business leaders who have said they would not attend the conference, including Uber [UBER.UL] Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi, said they were concerned about Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Earlier this year Google announced that it would work with a Saudi agency to open five innovation hubs in the country to train aspiring technologists.
Chrimmm on October 16th, 2018 at 05:38 UTC »
Canada called out Saudi Arabia weeks (months?) ago on its record of human rights abuses and no other G7 country batted an eye. Too bad it took the murder of a journalist for other nations to follow suit.
Raqped on October 16th, 2018 at 02:19 UTC »
pperca on October 16th, 2018 at 01:14 UTC »
At this point, it's easier to list who's going.