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Investors impressed with Saudi Arabia's plan of economic transformation — Russian official

On Monday, April 25, Saudi Arabia's government unveiled its long-term plan titled "Saudi Vision 2030" bound to make the country less reliant on oil

Khurais oil field, about 160 km from Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia EPA/ALI HAIDER

Khurais oil field, about 160 km from Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

© EPA/ALI HAIDER

MOSCOW, April 26. /TASS/. Russian and international investors are impressed with the transformational plan proposed by Saudi Arabia to reduce its oil dependency, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev told TASS.

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Should Russia get rid of its dependence on oil exports?

On Monday, April 25, Saudi Arabia's government unveiled its long-term plan titled "Saudi Vision 2030," which stipulates selling a stake in the state-owned Saudi Aramco oil company and setting up a $2 trillion global investment fund in a move to make the country less reliant on oil.

"Worldwide investors are impressed with the bold and strategic thinking of the Saudi Arabian transformational plan," Dmitriev said. "It is focused on proper investment thinking and will lead to major positive effects and growth of the Saudi economy reducing its dependency on oil," he added.

According to Dmitriev, the new strategy will help "make Saudi Arabia even more attractive for international investors."

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In 2015, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced its plans to invest up to $10 bln in the Russian economy via partnership with RDIF. As of now 20 deals are being actively explored.

The agreement between the two funds followed the visit of Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Russia who attended the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2015 and his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mohammed bin Salman is the initiator and one of the authors of the reforms program.

The volume of economic cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia, a traditional partner and ally of the U.S. in the Middle East, has been minor until recently.

Also, the kingdom is the world’s largest exporter of crude oil with leading positions in OPEC.

At the recent talks of oil-producing nations in Doha (Qatar) aimed at stabilizing global oil prices, representatives of Saudi Arabia did not support the proposal of Russia and a number of other countries to freeze crude production at current levels.

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