Saudi Arabia and Ukraine

Bilateral relations between Ukraine and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

1. Recognition of Ukraine: April 14, 1993.

2. Establishment of diplomatic relations: April 14, 1993.

3. Political relations:

Dialogue at the high / highest level:

April 1993 – official visit of Prime Minister of Ukraine to the KSA;

January 2003 – official visit of President of Ukraine to the KSA;

December 2011 – official visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to the KSA;

January 2015 – working visit of the President of Ukraine to the KSA;

November 2017 – official visit of the President of Ukraine to the KSA;

In August 2020 and August 2021 – telephone conversations between Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;

In March, September and October 2022 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had telephone conversations with the Crown Prince, Prime Minister of the KSA;

February 26, 2023 – official visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to Ukraine;

May 19, 2023 – official visit of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the KSA within the framework of participation in 2023 Arab League Summit.

Inter-parliamentary cooperation:

Inter-parliamentary friendship groups between Ukraine and Saudi Arabia are active since 1996. Current Group on Inter-parliamentary ties with Saudi Arabia in Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine consists of 24 members. The Fourth Saudi-Ukrainian Friendship Group in the Saudi Consultative Council includes 13 members.

Delegations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine paid official visits to Riyadh in 2009 and 2016, while the Saudi parliamentarians visited Kyiv in 2012 and 2017.

Chairman of the Saudi Consultative Council (Majlis Ash-Shura) Dr. Abdullah Mohammed Ibrahim Al Al-Sheikh paid official visit to Ukraine in October 2011.

Bilateral high-level state bodies:

Intergovernmental Ukrainian – Saudi Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation held six joint sessions (2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2017 and 2018).

4. Trade and economic cooperation:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the most important trade partners of Ukraine in the Middle East region.

Trade turnover between Ukraine and the KSA in 2021 amounted to USD 957,06 million. Ukrainian exports totaled USD 768,60 million (+16,3% compared to the indicators of 2020), import from KSA – USD 188,46 million (+84,8% compared to 2020). The positive balance of trade for Ukraine amounted to USD 580,15 million.

Such sectors as IT, energy, construction, transport and mechanical engineering are among prospective areas of Ukrainian-Saudi cooperation.

At the same time, it is important to involve Ukrainian technologies to the Kingdom for implementation of joint projects on the territory of both states.

In September 2018 “Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co” (SALIC), founded by the Saudi sovereign Public Investment Fund, acquired Ukrainian agricultural holding “Mriya”, which became one of the largest agricultural contracts in the history of Ukraine.

In September 2020, for the first time in the last 12 years, Saudi Arabia purchased 60,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat by the SALIC company. In 2021, Saudi Arabia purchased 121,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat.

During 2018-2019 Kyiv hosted the First and Second Ukrainian-Saudi Investment Forums in the agricultural sector, as well as extended meeting of the Ukrainian – Saudi Business Council.

5. Cultural and humanitarian cooperation:

In 2021 the Literary Club in Riyadh published “Anthology of Ukrainian Novelistics (end of 19th – beginning of 20th centuries)” in Arabic language.

Visits of delegations of the Saud Al-Faisal Institute for Diplomatic Studies of the Saudi MFA (2018), the King Abdullah International Center for the Arabic Language Service and the Saudi Geographical Society (2019) contributed to already fruitful cooperation between the leading research and educational institutions of Ukraine and the KSA.

In 2018 delegation of famous Ukrainian orientalists, consisting of representatives of A. Krymskyi Institute of Oriental Studies and Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University, visited Saudi Arabia as the special guests of the 33^rd National Festival for Heritage and Culture “Al-Jenadriyah” and were welcomed by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. In 2019 Ukrainian delegation participated in the international cultural and sports ethno-festival “Nomads Universe” held in Saudi Arabia.

Medical and healthcare cooperation has been recently stepped up due to efforts of the International Clinic of Rehabilitation (city of Truskavets) headed by prof. V. Kozyavkin. In 2017 delegation of the Ministry of Health of the KSA visited Ukraine in order to exchange experience on methods of treatment in the areas of medical rehabilitation and physiotherapy.

Tourism is another important area of cooperation, including pilgrimage (Hajj) of Ukrainian Muslims to the main shrines of Islam religion, located at the territory of the Kingdom. Hajj quota for Ukrainian Muslims was increased up to 200 persons for 2023.

6. Scientific and technical cooperation:

In 2017 cooperation between Ukrainian state enterprise «Antonov», the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and the «Taqnia Aeronautics» company resulted in joint production of the multi-purpose transport aircraft-demonstrator An-132D.

7. Bilateral agreements:

The legal framework of Ukrainian – Saudi relations consists of 15 documents: 1 convention, 5 agreements, 1 protocol, 7 memoranda, 1 cooperation program.

8. Ukrainian community:

The Ukrainian community in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia comprises about 2,000 people. The operation of associations for foreigners is limited by local legislation. The majority of Ukrainian citizens live in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.

9. Diplomatic mission of Ukraine: Embassy of Ukraine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.