RIYADH – The statisticians were supposed to arrive in three weeks. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Statistics said on Friday that it has postponed the Sixth United Nations World Data Forum and the Second Saudi Statistical Forum, both due in Riyadh from November 9 to 12, until 2027.
“The decision was made in coordination with the United Nations Statistics Division,” the authority said, according to Reuters. The statement gave neither a reason nor new dates. Middle East Eye linked the announcement to the escalating fighting with Yemen’s Houthis, though the authority itself did not.
The forums are the second major gathering to be pushed back in a week. The Future Investment Initiative, the Riyadh conference nicknamed “Davos in the Desert,” was due to run from October 26 to 29. Its organisers announced on Monday that it would move to 2027, with dates to follow “very soon,” CNN reported. Registrations and partnerships remain valid, the organisers said.
The security picture explains the caution. A missile struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on October 10 and killed 13 people and injured more than 300, according to the Associated Press. A day later another projectile hit Terminal 4, killing one person and wounding 11, according to Saudi civil aviation authorities. The Houthis claimed the attacks. Saudi officials told the AP they had opened an inquiry into how air defences failed to stop the barrage.
The World Data Forum is a UN-led meeting where national statistics offices, data scientists and development agencies compare methods and set priorities. Its postponement matters less to markets than the investment conference, but it removes a large UN-backed event from the kingdom’s autumn calendar. What nobody has said is when Riyadh expects conditions to allow either one to go ahead.
