No, but attending multiple such conferences will expose the oil exec to the areas of research, and help prioritize their funding.
Just like lung cancer isn’t solved, but Philip Morris etc still throw money at the research.
In an ideal world I would agree with you without reservations. Maybe I am too jaded, but find it hard to trust an UAE oil exec not to have an ulterior motive.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in the same boat as you wrt skepticism about motivations, but there is a plausible explanation for how this kind of situation could come about.