Anbaa Moscu unveils mega Russo-Emirati deals

CAPITALS: Anbaa Moscu newspaper reveals Russian eagerness to further enhance political, economic and cultural collaboration with the UAE.


Moscow regards the Emirates as enjoying a unique position in the world on many fronts including: oil, international trade and tourism, and politics, due to its unique standing on the political scene in the Arab and Islamic world and its strategic position at international levels. This was stated in a press release on Wednesday.

Uri Zinin, renowned diplomat and expert in Middle East affairs, believes that Russia is ready and keen to work with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states with the participation of both the public and private sectors. He added that the time is ripe for the two powers to collaborate, investing Russian expertise in oil, aquatic wealth, atomic power and outer space and to taking advantage of the natural wealth and resources in the GCC countries.

Russian interest and involvement is already firmly established in the UAE, with some 500 Russian companies, 200 Russo-Emirati companies and 80 Russian companies in the free zone at present. The UAE leads the field in joint projects, with 124 ongoing at the moment.

In addition to this, the Russian Petroleum Company has won a contract for constructing an oil refinery in Al Fujairah and Limitless LLC, a Dubai company is executing an extensive Russian Real Estate Project, to be called Domodevodo City, on the outskirts of Moscow, valued at 11 billion US dollars.

Emirati companies' interest in investing in Russia is not new. Gulftainer (a subsidiary of the Crescent Group) of the Emirates concluded a $500 million strategic partnership agreement with the massive Russian State-owned Prominvest and seeks management and investment projects in both Russia and independent Commonwealth states (CIS). The Emirati heavy-weight Lamnalco Group won an international tender to manage Novosibirsk oil port and oversee maintenance work on the main oil pipeline from Kazakhstan to the port.

Local enthusiasm for closer cooperation is already evident in several fields, and the proposed construction of a 'super-highway' between Russia, Iran and India, with access from the Emirates, is creating a considerable buzz.