00:00Russian business ties sound like they're pretty strong right now.
00:05What struck you that emerged from that forum in Riyadh?
00:11Well, I definitely see the forum as a kind of a way to summarize the changes that happened in Russia-Saudi economic relations within the last two, three years.
00:25Basically, the big game changer or turning point became the Russia's invasion of Ukraine that compelled Russia and the global economy to substantially restructure the chain of supplies,
00:39making those regions that previously were not that much important for Russia from the economic point of view acquire these importance.
00:46And while a lot of people, a lot of experts, they were initially expecting that Moscow might leave the region and might leave the Gulf being diverted towards its military adventures in Eastern Europe.
01:01On the opposite, Russia increased its presence and the current forum clearly demonstrated a wide range of those opportunities that one has already been used by Russia and Riyadh and Saudi Arabia to improve their relations.
01:19And on the other hand, that are still to be explored.
01:23So suddenly, the relations between these countries, well, suddenly for those who are not watching, these relations are that close, definitely.
01:31It became way bigger than just the dialogue on oil and gas market or cooperation in the hydrocarbon sphere.
01:39So we definitely see the growing importance of Russia as a food supplier for Saudi Arabia.
01:45We see Russia cooperating with Saudi Arabia in IT sphere, in the sphere of high technologies.
01:51And what's more important, the growing importance of Saudi Arabia for Russia as a transit and transport hub,
02:01allowing Moscow to build up its economic connections with the outer world.
02:05And finally, while Russia is still being under the sanctions and the sanctions pressure is paramounting,
02:12we see that Saudi Arabia preserves interest in cooperating with Russia in investments here.
02:18And the area of mutual investments that are only growing for the last two or three years is quite wide.
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