The governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Yasir Al-Rumayyan, on Thursday said Hong Kong was chosen as a host of the FII PRIORITY Summit because it is a global city.

Speaking on the first day of the forum, Al-Rumayyan also praised the SAR's position as an innovation hub and gateway to the mainland.

"We decided to branch out internationally. So we went to London, to New York, to Miami. And this is the first Asian branching out, which is Hong Kong. And the question is, why Hong Kong? Because Hong Kong is a global city," he said.

"It's one of the major hubs, not only in the capital market or the financial markets, but also with innovation, and also its proximity from not only China, but the rest of Asia."

Al-Rumayyan said the PIF already has offices in Hong Kong, New York and London, and is looking to set up offices on the mainland and in India next.

"The [Asian] region is expected to grow by about 4.6 percent in 2023. Also, China is home to 26 percent of the world's unicorns. And Hong Kong is basically the international gate city and a trading hub and also a innovation hub. And we knew this long ago since we started doing our international investments."

He added that Saudi Arabia is working on an AI strategy and regulatory framework, noting that the popularity of OpenAI and ChatGPT has shown the world how powerful AI development is.