Putin leaves for historic visit to Saudi Arabia

Moscow, Feb 11 (UNI) Russian President Vladimir Putin today left for a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss energy projects and the West Asia situation.

Mr Putin, the first ever Russian leader to visit the Kingdom nation, is expected to meet King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan, representatives of Russian and Saudi business circles there and sign a number of bilateral agreements aimed at deepening the two nation's trade, economy, banking, cultural and information cooperation.

The diplomatic relations between the two countries, which severed in the 1930s, was restored in 1990 but remained fairly inactive till date.

However, in September 2003, the current Saudi King Abdullah, then Crown Prince, revived the stingent bilateral ties by visiting Moscow.

Recently, Russia has also taken up initiatives to improve its ties with the Islamic world, which later earned it the 'Observer' status in the 57-nation Organisation for the Islamic Conference (OIC) in December 2005.

Meanwhile, Mr Putin's visit to Saudi Arabia is considered to be very significant from the trade point of view, as both the nations are regarded as the world's two leading oil producers.

UNI