Russian electric transport has prospects for use in Saudi Arabia - Russian industry and trade minister

RIYADH. Feb 9 (Interfax) - Russia is ready to supply electric transport, including electric buses, to the Saudi Arabian market, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said at the plenary session of the Innoprom. Saudi Arabia international exhibition.

"There are prospects for cooperation in electric transport. Here, Russian manufacturers are steadily building up their competencies. Colleagues from Rosatom have just presented such comprehensive solutions - from creating nuclear power plants to creating charging infrastructure and managing this charging infrastructure through special software. You know, not long ago a plant for the production of batteries, lithium-ion batteries, was launched in the Kaliningrad region. A second plant like this will be launched this summer in Moscow. So we have great experience in the field of electric transport," Alikhanov said.

"Almost 3,000 electric buses are already operating in Moscow. And we very much hope that this experience will be in demand here, in Saudi Arabia," he said.

Speaking in Riyadh, Alikhanov also recalled Russia's interest in cooperating with Saudi Arabia in the aviation industry. "The Saudi authorities have big plans: their Vision 2030 program assumes growth in traffic of 50 million [passengers] by 2030. Currently, it's somewhere around a 100 million in passenger flow. They plan to reach 150. Of course, this will require carrying capacity. But in fact, the Il-114, MC-21 and SJ-100 are precisely those aircraft that could meet the demand for domestic transportation. You know well that we certified the Tu-214 last year. The Il-114 will probably be the next aircraft in the coming months. As we hope, the Federal Air Transport Agency and certification centers will issue the certificate. Next in line for us is the Superjet, and the MC-21 should also receive its certificate by the end of this year," Alikhanov told journalists.

Regarding passenger traffic between Russia and Saudi Arabia, its increase will be facilitated by the entry into force of a visa-free regime between the two countries tentatively in the middle of this year, Alikhanov said.

Russia and Saudi Arabia have doubled their trade turnover over the past two years; it should exceed $4 billion in 2025, he said.