SOCHI, 10 Nov. The President of Russia Vladimir Putin will meet with Kuwaiti Emir Sabah, who is in Russia with 9 till November 11, at his invitation.
“In Sochi will be Vladimir Putin’s negotiations with the Sabah al-Sabah, during which it is planned to discuss key aspects of Russian-Kuwaiti cooperation. Priority will be given to the expansion of bilateral cooperation in trading-economic sphere”, — said the press service of the Kremlin.
It assumes a thorough exchange of views on topical issues of the international agenda, particularly on the situation in the middle East and North Africa.
This will be the first visit of the Emir Sabah to Russia since coming to power in 2006. How to write the Kuwaiti media, “the visit is part of a dialogue at the highest level between the two friendly countries, and he is expected to give impetus to bilateral relations in economic and commercial spheres, and also will open new horizons for cooperation”.
“This is the first in the history of the post-Soviet period, the visit of the Emir to the Russian Federation, and will be the first talks. We are fairly regular political dialogue at various levels. Now these points will be added and higher”, — said on the eve of the meeting of leaders of the press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.
According to him, the bilateral intergovernmental Commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation headed by Russian Minister for Far East development Alexander Galushka. Following the talks, signed a number of documents, but the talks will be held in narrow and expanded formats between the two delegations.
MILITARY-TECHNICAL COOPERATION
At the Embassy of Kuwait, told that one of the topics of negotiations will be the development of military-technical cooperation.
According to some military experts, Kuwait is interested in large-scale purchase of modern weapons, and the potential to sign contracts with Russia to supply anti-aircraft missile systems s-300, fighters of 4++ generation su-35, helicopters and various other equipment.
According to analysts, the Kuwait — a long-standing and trusted partner of Russia in sphere military-technical cooperation and any requests for the purchase of military equipment will be considered in the shortest possible time.
“The requests of Kuwait on the purchase and delivery of Russian arms can be satisfied quickly and efficiently. Russia is very open to development military-technical cooperation with Kuwait, we respect this country, know about its defense needs,” said the Director of the Center for analysis of world arms trade Igor Korotchenko.
At the meeting in September, the largest exhibition of land military equipment RAE-2015 (Nizhny Tagil) the representative of the “Uralvagonzavod” stated that a number of Gulf countries, including Kuwait, have shown great interest in tanks T-90, especially to modify the T-90MS.
Military-technical cooperation between Russia and Kuwait is developing for a long time. During 1970-1990-ies trafficking in arms and military equipment between the two countries has developed rapidly. cooperation between the two countries in this area began in 1978 and remained at a high level until the collapse of the USSR.
According to the Stockholm Institute of peace studies (SIPRI), from 1994-1997, Russia has carried out in the interests of Kuwait rather large supply of arms. For three years the Arab state was purchased from Russia for about 460 anti-tank missile systems C “faggot”, 27 reactive systems of volley fire “Tornado”, about 1.25 thousand anti-tank guided missiles “Bastion”, fifty infantry fighting vehicles BMP-2 and 142 BMP.
In addition, the 2009 contract land forces of Kuwait took delivery of 70 upgraded BMP-3M.
In 1980-e years Moscow also supplied to Kuwait a large batch of portable anti-aircraft missile systems “Strela” (about 700 units) and 20 anti-aircraft missile complexes “Wasp”.
OBISPOENSIS OIL PRICES
Other experts link the current visit of the Emir of Kuwait to Russia with the fall in world oil prices.
The dialogue with Moscow on this subject — one of the priority issues for the oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf, says President of the strategic research Center “Russia — Islamic world” Shamil Sultanov.
“The first and most important reason of the visit of the Emir of Kuwait to Russia — the same reason we came to the crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. It is the fall in oil prices, which has in all oil — producing countries,” Sultanov said in the commentary. He added that Kuwait is one of those States that are concerned about the current situation on the world oil market, and coordination on this issue plays a “very important role”.
“Especially now, when there were predictions that in the next six months, prices may fall significantly below $ 40. And Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are faced with an unprecedented budget deficit — this was not the last 20-25 years. Since Russia is the largest oil-producing country, consulting with her on this topic — the issue on the agenda” — said the expert.
Along with the economic issues the focus of discussion between the two leaders will be the problems of the Middle East such as the conflict in Syria, which, in turn, affect prices in the oil market.
On the question of what impact today has Kuwait on the political map of the Middle East, Sultanov said: “Kuwait is a middle place between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Of course, his opinion is authoritative in significant circles of the Middle East because this country in its policies, seeks to achieve the “Golden mean” between religious and secular systems of government.”
In addition, as previously reported in the media, Russia and Kuwait may soon agree on a line “Gazprom” on deliveries of liquefied natural gas from Russia.
The Kuwaiti authorities are interested in supplying LNG from Russia, and Gazprom is ready to fill the needs of the Emirate, said earlier the head of the Board of Directors of Gazprom Viktor Zubkov. According to him, Kuwait is interested in stable supplies of liquefied natural gas, and in the future these shipments is expected to increase almost threefold, from 2.5 million to 7.5 million tons.
As recalled in the company, Kuwait is building a new terminal for receipt of LNG, which expects to complete in 2020. “Gazprom” has also invited to join the projects of the third phase construction of “Sakhalin-2” and “Baltic LNG”.
