Russia and Saudi Arabia will launch joint projects worth $3bn by the end of 2017, the speaker of Russia’s Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko said at talks with members of the Russian-Saudi Business Council on April 17.
Facilitated by the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Sovereign Fund of Saudi Arabia, projects totalling about $600mn were already implemented this year under an anticipated total of $3bn by the end of the year, Matvienko said.
However, "although Saudi Arabia ranks second among the Arab states in terms of trade with Russia, the volume of mutual trade turnover in the past year has significantly decreased", TASS quoted the speaker as saying, citing the press service of the Russian upper chamber of parliament.
"This does not correspond to the potential that our countries have, we are interested in expanding economic ties," Matvienko stressed, naming as the most promising areas energy, geological exploration, mining, petrochemicals, tanker construction, investment cooperation, and training of personnel.
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