Riyadh, SPA:
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud held official talks with the Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.
At the outset, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques delivered the following speech:
In the name of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate,
President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation,
I welcome you to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, appreciating your acceptance of the invitation and wishing you and your accompanying delegation a pleasant stay, praising the distinguished relations between our two friendly countries, in various fields, as we look forward to strengthening them, in all fields.
This visit and discussions with your Excellency and among officials from both countries are a great opportunity to strengthen and deepen the bonds of friendship and ties between the two countries, to achieve a convergence of views and political positions.
Your Excellency,
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia appreciates the active role of the Russian Federation in the region and the world. We look forward to working with Your Excellency on everything that will bring security, stability and peace, confront extremism and terrorism and promote economic growth.
The joint investment and trade opportunities between the two countries through the signing of several agreements, especially in the field of energy, will have great positive results on the interests of our countries and peoples.
Reaffirming our support for the investment cooperation between the two countries through the Public Investment Fund and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, we welcome investment of the two funds in more than thirty investment projects, so far, and stressing the important role of the first meeting of the Saudi-Russian Economic Committee, to be held during the visit, that we support.
We reiterate welcoming you, Mr. President.
Then, President Putin delivered a speech, in which he referred to his previous visit to the Kingdom, in 2007, during which he discussed the development of relations between the two countries, praising the role of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, in consolidating Russian-Saudi cooperation, in various fields and aspects.
He stressed that the visit of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to Russia, in 2017, has contributed to the consolidation of relations and increased cooperation and trade exchange between the two countries.
The Russian President welcomed the successes of the joint governmental committee and the establishment of the Economic Council with the participation of a number of businessmen and ministers from both sides, participation in its first meeting, and during which they will discuss the most important areas of bilateral and future cooperation and exchange of views, on international files.
He praised the Kingdom's important role in the economic set up of the world.
President Putin praised the meeting with HRH Crown Prince, at the last Osaka summit and the agreement to continue coordination, to support of OPEC, in order to stabilize oil prices.
Putin also pointed to the importance of Saudi-Russian coordination to ensure security and stability, in the Middle East. saying "I am sure that without the participation of Saudi Arabia, it is impossible to secure sustainable development, in the region, and solving its problems.
The Russian President expressed wishes that the current visit to the Kingdom would push forward the process of Russian-Saudi relations.
After that, they reviewed the friendly relations between the two countries, ways of enhancing and developing bilateral cooperation, in the oil field, in addition to discussing a number of international issues of common interest.
The talks were attended by Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Riyadh Region, Prince Mansour bin Miteb bin Abdulaziz, Minister of State, Member of the Cabinet and Advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy, Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz, Minister of State and Member of Cabinet, Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, the Minister of Interior, Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, Minister of Culture and Prince Abdullah bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, Minister of the National Guard.
The talks were attended also by Minister of State and Member of the Cabinet Dr. Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban (accompanying minister), Foreign Minister Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, Minister of Trade and Investment, who is also the acting Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs Dr. Majed bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Eng. Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadhli, Saudi Ambassador to the Russian Federation Dr. Raed bin Khalid Qarmali and a host of senior, civil and military, officials.
Attending the talks, were also, members of the accompanying Russian delegation, notably, the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy President of the Presidential Office of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Yuri Ushakov, Russian Ambassador to the Kingdom Sergey G. Kozlov and the other members of the top level delegation, accompanying the Russian President, during the visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.