Russian business leaders visit Saudi Arabia for investment opportunities

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, is planning to multiply the number of investment deals with Saudi Arabia by several times in 2019 and has led its first Russian business mission of the year to the Kingdom for high-level meetings to discuss new projects.

The mission included over 20 majority shareholders and senior managers of leading Russian companies, including petrochemicals holding SIBUR, submersible pump manufacturer Novomet, and fertilizer producer Phosagro, said a statement by RDIF on Thursday.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of RDIF, led the Russian delegation at meetings with Saudi Arabia’s Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Minister, Khalid Al-Falih, the Managing Director of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Saudi Aramco’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Amin Nasser, and top managers of the petrochemicals company SABIC.

The delegation discussed projects in the oil refining, petrochemical, gas chemical and oilfield services sectors, including large-scale petrochemical projects in Russia, a rubber production project in Saudi Arabia, and joint oil and gas equipment manufacturing projects in Saudi Arabia, which could support a localization of production.

“As Saudi Arabia proceeds with its reforms and transformation, we see enormous potential in our partnership and expect investment levels to multiply by a significant factor this year and further in 2020,” Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF, said.