14 October 2019
October 14th, the inaugural meeting of The Russian-Saudi Economic Council was held in Riyadh as part of the state visit of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to Saudi Arabia. The meeting was chaired by Vladimir Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Addressing the gathering, the Russian President said: "There are sizeable opportunities for enhancing Russian-Saudi cooperation in a variety of areas — such as industry, transport, banking, infrastructure, digital technologies, space exploration. And today we witnessed the signing of relevant documents in almost all of the above-mentioned domains. And, admittedly, there are bright prospects in the energy sector... The plans involve a Russian-Saudi Institute in the field of energy cooperation to be established under the aegis of MGIMO."
The Memorandum of Understanding between MGIMO and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, one of the top-tier universities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, provides for the opening of a joint Russian-Saudi Institute of energy cooperation with the support of leading oil and gas companies of both countries.
The Memorandum was signed by MGIMO’s Rector Anatoly Torkunov, MGIMO International Energy Policy and Diplomacy Institute’s Director Valery Salygin, and Rector of King Fahd University of Oil and Mineral resources Dr. Sahal bin Nash Abdul Jawad".
— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version
