Russia’s trade and investment into the Middle East is rapidly developing, with relations both through the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League all helping boost bilateral trade by 25% during 2025. Partially driven by the developments along the INSTC, and new regional free trade agreements, we provide analysis of the growing Russia-Middle East economic partnership. Discover trade statistics, investment flows from the GCC, and business opportunities for companies in both regions.
The gradual emergence and importance of the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) is making itself felt, with Russia’s Krasnodar Territory, one of the largest agricultural regions in the country, exporting 252,000 tonnes of sunflower oil to Iran last year, according to the Novorossiysk branch of the Federal Center for Assessing the Safety and Quality of […]
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) imported 7,200 tonnes of chicken eggs worth US$8.6 million from Russia in 2025, becoming the leader in purchasing this Russian product in value terms, the Agroexport federal center has stated. This is the highest level since 2018, when exports reached values of US$12.5 million. The UAE overtook Mongolia, the previous […]
Trade turnover in fish and seafood between Russia and Middle Eastern countries grew 22% in 2025 to reach a value of US$107 million, the Russian Fish Union has said, based on an analysis of foreign customs services data. Exports from Russia to the UAE decreased 25% to 300 tonnes, but their value increased 35% to […]
Russia’s exports of agricultural products to Middle East countries reached US$4.3 billion in value during 2025, according to Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut. She was speaking at the opening of the Russian exposition at the Gulfood 2026 international food exhibition currently taking place in Dubai. Lut stated that “Our relations with Middle East countries are steadily […]
Russia exported soybean oil to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries worth nearly US$290 million in 2025, up 11% from 2024, according to the Agroexport federal center. The MENA region accounted for 43% of the export revenue from supplies of Russian soybean oil abroad. The top five buyers included Algeria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, […]
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This past week, the small Swiss resort of Davos yet again became the temporary capital of a self-appointed global elite. Under the banner of the World Economic Forum (WEF), political leaders, multinational CEOs, financial institutions, and technology giants gathered behind closed doors to discuss the global economic prosperity. Nearly 65 heads of state and government […]
President Putin has met with Mahmoud Abbas, the President of Palestine, in Moscow, to discuss developments in Palestine as well as the larger Middle East picture. Their agenda included the current state and future prospects of bilateral ties in trade and the economy and cultural and humanitarian affairs, as well as the situation in the Middle East, emphasising the state of affairs in the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, January 20, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov convened his traditional annual press conference in Moscow to review the performance of Russian diplomacy in 2025 and set out the foreign policy and economic agenda for 2026. At this event—attended by hundreds of journalists—Lavrov emphasized that the diplomatic focus is no longer solely about geopolitical […]
Russia’s Technonicol has begun exporting greenhouse substrates produced at the corporation’s plant in Krasny Sulin in the Rostov region to Saudi Arabia. The first batch of products included mineral wool cubes intended for germinating tomato seedlings in greenhouses. Technonicol’s products were delivered by sea from Novorossiysk to Jeddah via the Bosporus and the Suez Canal. […]
Moscow is ready to contribute to US President Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ initiative, President Vladimir Putin told the Russian Security Council on Wednesday (January 21). He suggested donating the required US$1 billion membership fee to the body out of the Russian assets frozen in the US to support the recovery of the Palestinian enclave. […]
Further proof of European acquiescence to the United States has shown itself in that European mergers and acquisitions (M&A) lawyers now need to gain accreditation in the United States to handle some cross-border M&A deals in the European Union itself. The convoluted arrangement has manifested itself through a complex agreement concerning Russia’s Gazprom and Hungary’s […]
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