Russia and Saudi Arabia have signed six bilateral cooperation agreements covering diverse domains at the international economic forum in St. Petersburg.
One of the cooperation agreements deals with a peaceful nuclear program and space exploration.
The documents were signed after a meeting between president Putin and the visiting deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman who is also Defense Minister.
The prince recalled that Russia had been the first country to officially recognize the Gulf kingdom and Riyadh “aims to develop bilateral relations in all sectors.”
Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak confirmed the commitment of Saudi Arabia as he acknowledged that “our colleagues from Saudi Arabia have brought a lot of projects to the table” that will be “introduced to our companies.”
Russia’s state-owned nuclear agency Rosatom signed an agreement to create a legal framework for their cooperation and prospective projects are expected to include the construction of nuclear power reactors, provision of services in nuclear fuel cycling, including those for nuclear power stations and research reactor facilities.
Space agency Roscosmos will collaborate with the Saudi national center for science and technology, KACST, in its future space exploration missions.
Bilateral ties between Moscow and Riyadh seem to be taking an important turning point after President Putin accepted the invitation of King Salman to visit Saudi Arabia and also extended a similar invitation which was accepted too. “We regard Russia as one of the important states in the contemporary world, and our relations have roots in the past” Prince Salman said.
Ahead of the meeting between the two sides, Saudi’s ambassador to Russia, Abdulrahman Al-Rassi said Moscow plays an “important” role in the Middle East and its presence at the Security Council helps to “maintain stability and security in the world.”
