Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, President of OPEC Conference for the current session, Engineer Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, chaired the Sixth Energy Dialogue meetings between the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Russian Federation held in the Russian capital yesterday. Engineer Al-Falih confirmed in his speech that the convening of the meeting for the sixth time underscores the increasing importance of the relations between the Organization and Russia characterized by a strategic nature, pointing out that the partnership between Russia and OPEC is important to strengthen the market foundations and create a positive trend in it. Engineer Al-Falih said cooperation between OPEC and exporting countries outside OPEC has developed rapidly following talks between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation which started about a year ago and culminated in the agreement between the two countries, which was announced on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Hangzhou, China last September. The Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources explained the dimensions of the development of the relationship between the Kingdom, as a member of OPEC, and Russia together to support the stability of the market, saying, "This bilateral commitment is stronger than ever, and on Tuesday we witnessed a meeting of Saudi- Russian leaderships in Kremlin, where the leaders renewed their resolve to regain balance to the global market for further stability and reaffirmed our commitment to do everything necessary together with other producers who share our vision and trends to achieve the goals." Minister Engineer AL-Falih also said that OPEC members and major producers outside OPEC, including Russia, are committed to the goal of reducing world oil stocks to an average of five coming years, pointing to the last week's Vienna meetings in which 24 countries of member and non-member states of the Organization had shown a consensus in opinions being taken into consideration by markets, stressing that this is an achievement that we can all be proud of it.
