Dmitry Medvedev’s talks with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia

The officials discussed bilateral cooperation in trade, the economy, industry, energy, agriculture and other spheres, as well as the implementation of large joint infrastructure projects.

Excerpts from the transcript:

Dmitry Medvedev: This is the first visit to Russia made by the King of Saudi Arabia, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

Saudi Arabia is an important partner of Russia in the Middle East, and yesterday’s events have shown that we can boost our cooperation to a very high level. You held very productive talks with President of Russia Vladimir Putin yesterday. The agreements you have reached are vitally important for our future cooperation in investment, the oil and gas sector, as well as in energy, the chemical industry, high technology and in the field of transportation.

I would just like to say that I will issue the necessary instructions to the ministers concerned, in my capacity as Prime Minister of Russia, so that the agreements reached will be implemented as soon as possible.

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (via interpreter): We are resolved to continue to develop our relations so as to open up a new and broad horizon for them. It is in this spirit that our fruitful talks with President Vladimir Putin were held. We have agreed to develop our cooperation in all spheres. We also agreed that an end must be put to the suffering of the Palestinian people plus a fair and comprehensive solution must be found to the Palestinian problem. We spoke about the need for peace and stability in the Middle East. However, this will be possible only if Iran drops its current policy and respects neighbourly relations as well as international law.

Saudi Arabia has reached a historically crucial stage in its development, as you can see from our national transformation programme, Saudi Vision 2030. We would like your friendly country to contribute to the implementation of this programme, because this would meet the interests of both our nations.

We are happy that we have balanced the international oil markets in the interests of both consumers and producers.

< …>