Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman affirmed his country's keenness to further develop cooperation with Russia across all fields. Speaking during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, Crown Prince Mohammed said joint efforts undertaken by the two countries reflected positively on oil markets and the world.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman held extensive talks with Putin on bilateral relations and pressing international issues. Both sides focused on the opening match of the World Cup 2018, which was attended by the Crown Prince and a number of international leaders and personalities who participated in the championship’s opening ceremony.
Putin told the prince at their meeting in Moscow that he was happy to see him at the opening of the soccer World Cup, which kicks off on Thursday with a match between the Russian and Saudi Arabian national teams.
At the start of negotiations, Putin stressed his country's keenness to continue joint action in different areas with Saudi Arabia. The Russian president also congratulated the Saudi crown prince on the advent of Eid al-Fitr.
He added that Russia remembers well the visit of Saudi monarch Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz to Moscow, and asked the crown prince to convey to him Russia’s best wishes.
Putin explained that the visit has given a good boost to developing bilateral relations, adding that ties are developing effectively in the areas of politics and economic cooperation.
However, the Russian president also admitted to substantial work lying ahead, stressing that cooperation was very effective and beneficial for both Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation.
Crown Prince Mohammed pointed out that the stability of oil prices in the markets was a vital factor in the stability of the global economy, and invited President Putin to participate in the OPEC + summit of oil cut agreement partakers, to be held in Riyadh.
OPEC member countries, led by Russia and Saudi Arabia, will meet on June 22 and 23 to discuss the deal for cutting output by 1.8 million bpd, which expires at the end of 2018.
More so, Saudi Arabia decided to join in for the project of building the largest smart city in Russia, investing about $ 100 million.
The Saudi sovereign fund will join investors which include Russia’s direct and the joint Russian-Chinese investment funds, partaking in the project for establishing a smart city on the former Tushino Airfield grounds, north-west Moscow.
Total investment for the project is expected to reach 90 billion rubles (equivalent to about $1.45 billion).
