Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Adel al-Jubeir said that Saudi Arabia may continue to sell shares of Saudi’s oil giant Aramco in New York. At the moment, the kingdom is in search of the exchange for one of the biggest IPOs in history. However, speaking at the press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Adel al-Jubeir said that the final decision is not made yet.
According to Bloomberg, the Saudi government intends to sell a stake “of less than 5 percent” in Saudi Arabian Oil Co. by 2018 within the framework of the plan of the kingdom’s deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to create the world’s largest sovereign investment fund and to reduce the economy's oil dependence.
Adel al-Jubeir also said that Saudi Arabia has no plans to cut investments in the United States, but will continue investing on a regular basis. The minister did not deny existing risks, but reiterated that the kingdom’s aim is to increase rather than reduce the investments.
Recently, the Saudi minister visited the US in order to figure out the position of Donald Trup’s new administration and to try to persuade US lawmakers to make amendments to the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).
The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) is the bill passed by the US Congress that legitimizes lawsuits by Americans against the government of Saudi Arabia regarding terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Tensions caused by the JASTA law were heightened by a halt in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia because of concerns about civilian casualties in Yemen. Interestingly, the US Congress passed the 9/11 law overriding US President Barack Obama’s veto.
