SAUDI ARABIA – EAEU ECONOMIC RELATIONS: THE DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS

Abstract

In the current geo-economic situation, the strengthening of trade cooperation with countries pursuing a constructive, friendly policy, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is on the agenda of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries. Political partnership needs to be backed up by potential economic benefits. Cooperation with the KSA, as a regional leader, will contribute to strengthening the trade position of the EAEU in the entire Gulf region. The authors answer the question: which promising foreign economic cooperation areas between the EAEU countries and the KSA will lead to mutually beneficial partnership in the near future? The article presents a study of the economic cooperation’s development factors between the KSA and the EAEU and its current state. The authors analyze the dynamics and structure of foreign trade between EAEU and KSA, as well as promising areas of investment and logistics, and their development in the current geopolitical situation. The current state of bilateral trade is poorly developed, the countries are not key trading partners. The economies of countries do not depend on mutual trade in goods for none of the commodity items. Services are not subject to mutual trade. Recommendations aimed at realization of the underutilized mutual export potential and resource exports’ diversification are proposed. Among the key areas of trade promotion, such commodity items as: products of the agro-industrial complex, equipment for voice/image transmission, components for railway transport and drilling machines. Financial services supply is also promising area, especially in the sphere of Islamic banking and cooperation through the Islamic Development Bank. It is advisable to expand the agenda of preferential trade negotiations to the EAEU – GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) format.