JEDDAH — Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev welcomed the creation of the new Ministry of Investment in Saudi Arabia and the appointment of Khalid Al Falih as the minister. Dmitriev said that “We believe the creation of the new ministry will help Russia and Saudi Arabia reach the goal of increasing mutual investments outlined during the visit of the Russian President to the Kingdom last year.” “We are looking forward to working with Al-Falih and the new ministry on new investment deals in sectors ranging from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to energy which will be mutually beneficial for both of our nations.” “We also welcome the appointment of our partner Majid Al Qasabi as the Acting Minister of Media. We have been working a lot with Al Qasabi and believe that his experience in international economic relations is important to promote major positive economic reforms undertaken by the Kingdom through Vision 2030 plan,” the RDIF CEO added. "The creation of the new ministry of tourism is an important step in the Kingdom’s plan to bring more tourists into the country including tourists from Russia." "We welcome the appointment of Ahmad Al-Khateeb as the new minister of tourism. Currently we have a number of significant joint projects in the tourism sector under discussion with Al-Khateeb, and are planning to start implementing them very soon with our Saudi partners,” the RDIF CEO said. — SG