Saudi Arabia has inked a commitment to invest up to $10 billion in Russia, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Monday.
Russia’s RDIF and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia agreed to create a partnership to invest $10 billion into projects in Russia, RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev told RIA Novosti.
Russia’s latest deal with its closest oil producing rival highlights Moscow’s growing efforts to replace Western funding, which have been stung by sanctions. The deal comes just a few days ahead of the BRICS and SCO summit in Russia’s town of Ufa on July 8-10, 2015.
The majority of the $10 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is said to be spent on Russia’s agricultural projects, in addition to sectors such as medicine, logistics, and retail and real estate.
“We have reached final agreements and are announcing the creation of a partnership with the sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), under which PIF will invest $10 billion into projects on Russian territory. These funds are expected to be implemented within 4-5 years. We plan to implement 10 deals with RIF before the end of this year, seven of them are currently in the final stage. RIF expressed interest in investing into agriculture, medicine, retail, logistics, real estate,” Dmitriev said.
Dmitriev added that $10 billion from PIF is the largest foreign investment to Russia that has been attracted by the RDIF and said that the first four or five investment deals should be signed in the next 2 to 3 months.
According to Dmitriev, the RDIF has also signed an agreement with another Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA).
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