Russia’s sovereign fund opens its first representative office abroad, in Saudi Arabia
Russia’s sovereign wealth fund opened its first overseas office in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
In a statement carried by the Russian news agency Sputnik, the fund said: “The representative office will operate on the basis of understandings reached previously and through platforms with partners in Saudi Arabia”.
“There is also talk about the establishment of a Russian-Saudi fund to carry out joint investments in attractive projects (not specified)”.
The active cooperation between the two countries’ funds is also being implemented through an energy investment platform, established in cooperation with Aramco and a joint Saudi-Russian platform for investments in the technology sector valued at $ 1 billion.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund “RDIF” was established in 2011 with a capital of $ 10 billion, by the Russian government to act as a catalyst for foreign direct investment.
This comes in parallel with the ongoing preparations for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Saudi Arabia, scheduled for this month.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has invited President Putin to visit his country during a meeting with him in the Kremlin in October 2018.
