Russian President Vladimir Putin has shortly arrived in Riyadh in an official two-day visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia KSA to attract more investments to the Russian economy.
Putin is also set to head to the United Arab Emirates after his current visit to KSA.
The last visit of Putin to Saudi Arabia was in February 2007, 12 years ago, while the Saudi monarch visited Russia in 2017, where he described the visit as historic.
Russian and Saudi flags lined the streets of Riyadh ahead of Putin’s one-day visit, which includes a performance by Russia’s Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra.
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He will meet with Saudi King Salman bin Abdel-Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The visit comes after the Russian economy suffered slowdown in recent years due to sanctions imposed on Russia because of Ukraine and the decline in oil prices, which is considered Russia's main exports.
Russia appears unable to achieve growth estimates of 3 percent of GDP this year.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are seeking to persify their economies away from only depending on oil.
The Russian President has also previously condemned the recent attacks on Aramco facilities, and said “such actions do not bring any positive results to anybody, including perpetrators,” as they do not have a strong effect on the market.
“We condemn any such actions, end of story. This is the official position … regardless of who stood behind the incident,” Putin commented.
A forum attended by Saudi Arabian and Russian business leaders and government officials earlier Monday resulted in the signing of several agreements between companies of both countries.
Moscow, the world’s largest wheat exporter, made some progress in accessing the Saudi and Middle Eastern markets when the kingdom agreed in August to relax specifications for wheat imports, opening the door to Black Sea imports.
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