Ukraine is extremely interested in political, humanitarian and economic cooperation with Saudi Arabia and seeks to strengthen cooperation with this country. This was stated by Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak at a joint briefing with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud after their meeting with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Andriy Yermak noted that our country highly appreciates today's visit to Kyiv by the Saudi delegation headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and considers it an important evidence of support for our country, especially in these days of the anniversary of the beginning of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation.
The Head of the President's Office thanked Saudi Arabia for supporting the UN General Assembly resolution on sustainable peace in Ukraine adopted on February 23 in the context of the anniversary of the Russian attack on our country.
"We count on further practical support from the Kingdom for our Peace Formula. We spoke about this in great detail today. And we expect the involvement in the implementation of one or more points of our President's peace plan," he emphasized.
Andriy Yermak noted the significant assistance to Ukraine from Saudi Arabia in the humanitarian sphere, in particular, the decision to allocate a separate support package worth $400 million.
During the visit of Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, two documents were signed at the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine – Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov and Supervisor General of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre Abdullah Al Rabeeah signed a Joint Cooperation Program between the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.
Minister of Energy of Ukraine Herman Halushchenko and Acting CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development Sultan Al-Marshad signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Saudi Grant for Petroleum Products between the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine and the Saudi Fund for Development.
These documents formalize the provision of a $400 million humanitarian aid package to our country, consisting of $100 million in humanitarian aid and $300 million in petroleum products.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the prospects for deepening bilateral cooperation in all key areas, including investment and energy.
Andriy Yermak emphasized the active role of Saudi Arabia in mediating negotiations on the humanitarian and social tracks. He thanked the Kingdom for its assistance in the release of 10 foreign prisoners of war on September 21, 2022.
"This mission of Saudi Arabia is an extremely important factor in our cooperation. And we have agreed that we will continue to work in this direction," the Head of the Presidential Office said.
During the meeting, the parties also discussed advocacy on the part of Saudi Arabia in addressing key issues and overcoming challenges faced by the international community today, in particular through our country's Grain from Ukraine initiative.
"We stated with the esteemed minister that the challenges faced by the international community today can only be overcome together and only on the basis of respect for international law and the UN Charter. And we share the same view of this," emphasized Andriy Yermak.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba noted that our country is fully committed to developing relations with Saudi Arabia.
"In particular, we will jointly look for ways to strengthen our position in the Global South, especially in Africa," he said.
According to Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine considers cooperation with Saudi Arabia not only as bilateral and multilateral within the UN and other international organizations, but also as regional.
