DAVOS: Faisal Al-Ibrahim, the Saudi minister of economy and planning, on Friday met Stephen Schwarzman, the chairman, CEO and co-founder of private equity firm Blackstone, in Davos, Switzerland, to discuss the future of finance and ways to make a positive long-term economic impact.

The minister also held talks with Jean-Louis Girodolle, the CEO of Lazard Investment Banking in France, about inclusive models for collaborative investment and transformative business solutions, and Maelle Gavet, the CEO of pre-seed investment firm Techstars, which has supported more than 3,300 early-stage startups globally.

The meetings came after the World Economic Forum, which held its annual meeting in Davos this week, and Saudi Arabia signed a letter of intent on Tuesday to set up an accelerator program to help boost innovation in the Kingdom. The agreement was signed during a meeting between a high-level delegation from the Kingdom and the WEF leadership.

In addition to Al-Ibrahim, the Saudi delegation in Davos included Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Ambassador to the US Princess Reema bint Bandar, Minister of Communications and IT Abdullah Al-Swaha, and Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef.