The history of diplomatic relations between Ukraine and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia comes back to April 14, 1993, when the relevant protocol was signed in Riyadh in the frames of a visit of the high level Ukrainian governmental delegation.
The process of development of bilateral relations in various political, economic and humanitarian fields was facilitated by the exchange of visits of governmental, parliamentary and commercial delegations (in particular of the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma to the Kingdom in 2003 and the Chairman of the Consultative Al-Shura Council Abdullah Al Ash-Sheikh to Kyiv in 2011), as well as the five sessions of the joint Ukrainian Saudi commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation have been conducted (the latest – in 2017 in Riyadh).
It is noteworthy that the official visit of His Excellency Mr. Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on November 1, 2017 and his talks with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud enabled to sum up results of both countries’ previous cooperation over the last 25 years and place emphasis on priority directions of their further bilateral political, investment, trade, economic, military-technical and humanitarian cooperation.
Ukraine appreciates the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s position towards supporting its sovereignty and territorial integrity (during voting in favor of the UNGA Resolutions «Territorial integrity of Ukraine» in March 2014 and «Situation of human rights in the Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)» in December 2016), which corresponds to the key principles and norms of the international law.
Ukraine and the Kingdom have already created a necessary legal basis for further cooperation in different spheres that includes agreements on trade-economic, scientific, technical and investment cooperation, on reciprocal promotion and protection of investments, on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and on capital as well as on investment cooperation in the field of agriculture, on informational exchange and cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. Meanwhile both sides are also finalizing consideration of drafts of bilateral documents on air services, cooperation in the spheres of defense and sports.
Saudi Arabia is considered as one of the important and perspective Ukraine’s partners in the entire Gulf and Middle East region in economic and trade fields (in 2017 turnover totaled to USD 700 million and consisted mainly of commodity items such as cereals, ferrous metals, animal or plant fats and oils as well as plastics and polymeric materials, mineral fuel, petroleum and petroleum distillation products, organic chemical combinations).
There are Saudi companies that are leasing agricultural lands in Ukraine as well as leading Ukrainian enterprises that participate in implementation of projects in energy and transport spheres by providing reserve transformers, wagon and locomotive wheels. Meanwhile, both sides should introduce additional mechanisms for ensuring a more sustainable and systematic development of economic cooperation as well as further expansion and diversification of the export and import operations (through intensifying direct business-to-business contacts, holding business forums, road shows, specialized and annual trade exhibitions, opening official representative offices of Ukrainian and Saudi companies and their joint ventures).
In Ukraine a lot of attention is being paid to the ambitious national development plan “Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030”. Common multi-purpose transport aircraft An-132D (as a result of the partnership between the “Antonov” company, “Taqnia Aeronautics” company and the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology) is not only one of the stories of success in the Ukrainian-Saudi relations but a vivid proof of both states’ ability to create high-tech products corresponding to international standards.
Ukraine now takes all necessary measures in order to facilitate business activities for foreign investors, with regard to changes of the Ukrainian business legislation towards the EU standards. The Saudi side is offered opportunities of investing in such sectors as: agricultural sector, energy (especially oil and gas sector, electricity, mining and the renewable energy sector), shipbuilding, heavy machinery, aircraft, tourism as well as participation in a large-scale privatization program.
In order to intensify direct contacts between Ukrainian and Saudi business circles and expand mutual awareness about both countries at the level of their societies the Government of Ukraine has achieved the considerable facilitation of visa regime for the Saudi citizens. In addition to possibility for applying for short term single-entry visas upon arrival at three separate airports in the cities of Kyiv and Odesa for tourist, business and investment purposes, in April, 2018 Ukraine started on-line registration of foreigners for electronic entry visas with a business or tourist purposes (through www.evisa.mfa.gov.ua web-site) that was introduced for the Saudi nationals as well.
Ukraine is famous for its picturesque nature, ancient culture, diverse historical landmarks, modern restaurants and malls, resorts (including in the capital – Kyiv, the cities of Lviv in the mountainous Carpathian region and Odesa on the Black Sea shore), offering unique opportunities for Saudi tourists’ recreation