Saudi Arabia, Turkey to boost energy, petrochemicals cooperation

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman speaks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Saudi Arabia and Turkey issued a joint statement at the conclusion of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit, during which he met with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.

According to the statement, the two sides held official talks to review their longstanding bilateral relationship and explore ways to expand cooperation across all areas.

At the outset of the meeting, the Turkish side praised Saudi Arabia’s efforts in serving the Two Holy Mosques and their visitors, and commended the level of coordination between the two countries to ensure the comfort of Turkish pilgrims and Umrah performers.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey praised the strength of their economic ties and agreed on the importance of enhancing cooperation in priority sectors, leveraging investment opportunities under Saudi Vision 2030 and Turkey’s Centennial Vision for mutual economic benefit, the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Both sides highlighted trade levels, emphasizing the need to expand non-oil trade, boost high-level public and private-sector visits, hold business events via the Saudi-Turkish Business Council, and finalize free trade agreement talks between Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

They welcomed the scale of bilateral investments, including Saudi investments in Turkey across finance, insurance, renewable energy, real estate, manufacturing, and services. They noted the vital role of Turkish companies in Saudi Arabia in engineering, construction, real estate, and manufacturing, and praised completed Turkish-led projects in the Kingdom. Both expressed readiness to expand cooperation on infrastructure projects under Vision 2030.

The two sides lauded the outcomes of the Saudi-Turkish Investment Forum in Riyadh, which featured participation from major companies and highlighted opportunities across tourism, hospitality, construction, ICT, life sciences, and healthcare.

In energy, the two countries reaffirmed their role in regional and global energy supply, with Turkey noting Saudi Arabia’s leadership in stabilizing global oil markets to benefit producers and consumers and support global economic growth. They agreed to strengthen cooperation in oil, petrochemicals, and agricultural feed, as well as innovative uses of hydrocarbons.

Saudi Arabia and Turkey emphasized boosting collaboration in electricity and renewable energy, sharing expertise in grid integration, advancing feasibility studies for electricity interconnection, and cooperating on smart grids, energy storage, and renewable projects. Both highlighted the importance of energy efficiency, awareness, and capacity building in energy services.

The two sides also welcomed cooperation on the development of clean hydrogen, including transport, storage, and best practices, and agreed to enhance energy supply chains and local resource utilization to improve resilience and efficiency.

They agreed to deepen cooperation in mineral exploration, extraction, and processing, particularly critical minerals, to secure supply chains for global energy transitions.

On climate, the two nations reaffirmed their commitment to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, supporting low-emission approaches, applications of the circular carbon economy, and other mitigation measures. Turkey praised Saudi Arabia’s climate initiatives.

Both sides commended coordination under the Saudi-Turkish Coordination Council to advance shared interests across all areas. They agreed to strengthen partnerships in the digital economy, AI, emerging technologies, space, transport, logistics, civil aviation, judiciary, culture, tourism, sports, education, media, environment, water, agriculture, food security, customs, health, and defense industries.

Finally, they emphasized financing development projects, continued cooperation within international and multilateral institutions, and Turkey’s support for Saudi Arabia hosting the G20 Summit in 2030.