Russian Energy Minister Expects Increase in Trade Exchange Volume with Qatar

HE Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak expected the trade exchange volume between Russia and Qatar to reach $500 million during the next three years if it continues to grow at the current pace.
At a press conference held on the sidelines of the third meeting of the Qatar-Russia joint commission on trade, economic and technical cooperation, the Russian minister said the meeting highlighted the importance of strengthening cooperation ties between both countries and discussed the possibility of cooperating in the energy, transportation, agriculture, nuclear energy and technology fields, as well as issues related to investment between both countries.
Novak said the meeting reached positive results, adding that Qatar's market will soon be introduced to several Russian meat and poultry products.
The Russian minister said Russia has many investment opportunities that Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and the Russian Investment Agency (RIA) may take advantage of, adding that the value of such opportunities exceed $2.1 billion in the fields of development, infrastructure, energy, petrochemicals and others.
The energy minister said the current situation is favorable to the development of the trade exchange between both countries, where in the last year QIA bought shares in the Russian petroleum company Rosneft.
The Qatari investments do not add any pressure on Russia as the current oil market reflects the importance of joint cooperation and the development of diverse economy mechanisms, the minister added.
Novak said the meeting discussed joint cooperation between Moscow and Qatar as well as working on developing bilateral cooperation in oil exploration and drilling. The meeting also discussed cooperation in the different oil areas, establishing joint companies in the oil and gas fields, and cooperation in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) and OPEC, he added.
Commenting on the Russian and Qatari private sectors, the minister said it is imperative to provide all facilities to businessmen from both sides to boost joint cooperation in the future, and support the exploitation of opportunities, which, in turn, helps towards the increase of the volume of trade exchange that doubled last year in hope to increase it further in the future.
Novak added that the meeting discussed taxes between both countries, which play an important role in strengthening cooperation ties and boosting joint investments. Approving to form a joint team to follow up on the implementation of agreements proves that it will not remain a concept and will support the development of trade exchange between both countries, he said.
The Russian minister added that the meeting touched on the civil aviation field, where the Qatari side was briefed on all the Russian technical institutions in this field. He expressed hope that 2018 will be the Russian-Qatari civilization year and that there will be a wider cooperation in the health sector.
The meeting also discussed the oil production cut agreement, the Russian minister said, adding that the general secretariat of OPEC is running additional analyses and studies on the oil market situation and its recovery, with the results presented to the next OPEC ministerial meeting to discuss the possibility of extending the agreement. 

Source: QNA