15-10-02 Russia and Saudi Arabia should cooperate on an economic level, especially in the oil sector, said Russian energy minister Igor Yusofov. He said Russia would welcome Saudi investment in the development of oil refineries in remote parts of eastern Siberia, or in the modernisation of oil and gas installations.
Economic relations between Moscow and Riyadh "are only in the early stages and are limited for the moment to trade," he told a Russian-Saudi trade and economic commission in Moscow.

During the first half of this year bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $ 53 mm, in comparison with $ 66.7 mm for the whole of the previous year.
Saudi finance minister Ibrahim al-Assaf agreed bilateral trade was too low and could be increased further, adding that the oil industry was not the sole interest of the Saudi economy.