The UK’s minister for investment Graham Stuart was also on the draft list, appearing on a panel called “Trading places: What new financial centers are rising up around the world?”

In a brief phone call with BuzzFeed News on Thursday morning, Stuart confirmed he was planning to attend the Riyadh conference on behalf of the UK government.

But when asked about whether he or the government had taken into account the murder of Khashoggi, Stuart replied, “I don’t want to go into that”, before asking to end the call.

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Kevin Rudd said he was attending next week's conference because next year Saudi Arabia will host the gathering of world leaders for the G20 summit.

“All G20 heads of government will be attending the G20 summit in Saudi Arabia next year. As one of its co-founders, I have been asked to speak on how Saudi Arabia should best prepare for the financial and economic agenda for that summit.

“That is why I’m planning to attend the FII (Future Investment Initiative).”

Addressing whether he'd taken into account the murder of Khashoggi, Rudd added: “Attending G20 summits in the past has never equated with approval or disapproval of the policies of any particular host government.”

The US-based dissident journalist for the Washington Post was murdered and dismembered by Saudi agents in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul last year.

Months of investigations into the brazen incident led the United Nations expert on extrajudicial killings to conclude that 15 Saudi agents had used “state means to execute” Khashoggi.

“It was overseen, planned and endorsed by high-level officials,” the report by the UN’s special rapporteur concluded. “It was premeditated.”