Middle East News & Analysis

Middle East

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.

Featured February 13, 2025

Russian beauty retailer Golden Apple enters Saudi Arabian market

The cosmetics and perfumery chain Golden Apple (Yekaterinburg) will begin operating in Saudi Arabia, with offline and online stores to be launched in the coming months, the company’s press service said. “Golden Apple will become not only the first Russian beauty retailer to enter the kingdom’s market but also the first multi-brand retailer to enter […]

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February 11, 2025

Lukoil Expected To Sign New Egyptian Oil Concession

According to the Egypt Upstream Gateway, which operates on behalf of the Egyptian Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry, Russia’s Lukoil is interested in acquiring Egypt’s South Wadi El-Sahl block. A memorandum of understanding for the project is expected to be signed during the Egypt Energy Show (EGYPES), which takes place in Cairo on February 17-19. […]

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February 6, 2025

Russian’s Spending More Tourist Dollars On Overseas Trips

Russian spending on trips abroad has exceeded pre-2019 record levels, according to the Russian Central Bank. In 2024, Russian nationals spent almost US$38 billion on travel to other countries, overtaking the previous record by US$1.5 billion. Among the main reasons for the growth of the Russian overseas tourism sector are the availability of new destinations […]

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February 6, 2025

More Istanbul – St.Petersburg Flight Connections From March

Turkiye’s AJet airline will launch direct flights between Istanbul and St. Petersburg on March 14, according to St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport. There will be four flights a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Pulkovo airports press service stated that “AJet is the fourth carrier on the St. Petersburg-Istanbul route. The number of flights to […]

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February 6, 2025

Russian Visits To Israel Decline To Just Over 70,000 For 2024

The Israeli Tourism Ministry has said that 72,600 Russian tourists visited Israel in 2024, a sharp decline from the 158,500 Russian tourist arrivals in 2023. The number of tourists fell after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated on October 7, 2023. Overall, Russian visitors retained the fourth position among foreign tourists to Israel in 2024 with a […]

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February 5, 2025

Russian Agricultural Exports To Egypt Up 20% In 2024  

Russia boosted exports of agricultural products 20% year-on-year to over $3 billion to Egypt in 2024, the Agriculture Ministry’s Agroexport center has said, citing preliminary expert estimates. The main export product was wheat, accounting for 84% of all deliveries. Sunflower oil at 13%, soybean oil at 2%, and dried lentils and chickpeas under 1% each […]

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January 30, 2025

Russia-Syria 2025 Diplomatic, Trade, and Security Updates

A Russian delegation has been visiting the new regime in Syria following the fall of the pro-Russian Bashar al-Assad government lasts month. In apparently positive news for Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has reported that Moscow and Damascus intend to maintain their historically stable and mutually beneficial relationship. It was the first Russian […]

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January 23, 2025

Russia – Azerbaijan Bilateral Trade Up 10.1% In 2024

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia rose 10.1% year-on-year to nearly US$4.8 billion in 2024, Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee (SCC) has stated. This places Russia third among Azerbaijan’s foreign trade partners after Italy and Turkey. The volume of Azerbaijan’s exports to Russia decreased 1.5% year-on-year to US$1.178 billion. Exports to Russia accounted for 4.4% of […]

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