Russia to launch six satellites for Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Feb 12 (Reuters) Russia will launch six Saudi-made information satellites for Saudi Arabia this year, officials of the two countries said today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the plans at a meeting with Saudi businessmen in Riyadh during a visit to boost trade between the world's top two oil producers.

A senior official from King Abdulaziz Science and Technology City, a technology park in Riyadh, said the satellites would be launched in the first half of this year. He said five would be for telecommunications and data transfer and the sixth will be for remote sensing.

The satellites will be launched from a base in Kazakhstan.

Saudi Arabia already has several media and telecoms satellites.

Putin said he saw a possibility for cooperation with the kingdom on atomic energy, after six Gulf Arab countries agreed in December to launch a peaceful nuclear energy programme, in what was seen as a reaction to Iran's nuclear ambitions.

''However, Russia hopes to see peace and stability in the region,'' said Putin, speaking through an Arabic translator.

The Russian leader, who left the kingdom later for Qatar, said Saudi Arabia could benefit from Russia's experience in gas exploration.

In 2000, Russia's LUKOIL and Saudi Aramco launched an 80-20 percent joint venture called LUKSAR to explore and produce gas in an area of the Rub al-Khali desert.

Trade exchanges between the two countries rose 230 per cent from 2000 to 1.5 billion riyals (400 million dollars) in 2005, with Saudi exports accounting for a small fraction of them.

Saudi businessmen blamed high Russian customs duties, which they said amounted to up to 200 per cent, the absence of direct transport links and long procedures in Russian banks.

Putin invited Saudi banks to open 100-per cent-owned branches in Russia and said bilateral investments would rise after the Saudi Development Fund signed an agreement during his visit with two Russian state banks.

REUTERS KR KN2115