MOSCOW. Jan 13 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud will hold talks in Moscow on January 14, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
"Lavrov and Faisal bin Farhan are expected to consider the prospects for more active bilateral interaction in the nuclear energy sector, as well as in the space industry," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website.
"In particular, this concerns training Saudi cosmonauts and sending them into orbit," the statement said.
"It is highly important to maintain close coordination between Russia's and Saudi Arabia's activities on the global oil market as a principal factor ensuring an optimal balance between supply and demand for fossil fuels," it said.
Lavrov and Faisal bin Farhan are also expected "to reaffirm their determination to strengthen and broaden partnership between the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which have carried out projects worth more than $2.5 billion in total as part of a joint platform."
"The RDIF and specialized Saudi agencies are also continuing to explore organizing Phase 3 of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine's clinical trials in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and producing it locally," the statement said.
The Russian and Saudi foreign ministers are also expected to compare notes on relevant regional issues.
"They plan to focus on the political-diplomatic settlement of the conflicts which persist in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as on consolidating the efforts of all states located there to achieve long-term stability in that strategically important part of the world, while observing the principles of respect for national sovereignty, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, and the indivisibility of security," it said.
"It is precisely from this perspective that Lavrov and Faisal bin Farhan are expected to analyze the situations in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, and the Gulf area, as well as the Arab-Israeli peace process," the statement said.
This should be the first in-person meeting between the two following Faisal bin Farhan's appointment as Saudi foreign minister in October 2019.
"We assume that the Saudi Arabian foreign minister's visit to Moscow will provide significant extra impetus to our mutually-respectful and mutually-beneficial ties with the Kingdom and promote the necessary preconditions for a sustainable and long-lasting normalization of the situation in the region and the world as a whole," the statement said.