Russian wealth fund to participate in building NEOM

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) will participate in building Saudi Arabia's $500 billion NEOM megaproject, becoming the first foreign fund to announce its involvement in the development. 

Russian companies will participate in the following key areas in the project: solar energy, healthcare, education, artificial intelligence, high-speed transportation as well as port infrastructure for the transshipment of agricultural products.

“We are pleased to participate in such an ambitious project that will combine new technologies from a wide range of areas,” RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said in a statement on Thursday.

“RDIF plans to co-invest alongside international funds and bring leading Russian companies into the NEOM project, thus fostering expansion of their innovative technologies in the promising markets of Saudi Arabia and Middle East as a whole,” he added.

RDIF was established in 2011 to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia, alongside international investors.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman on Tuesday announced the NEOM project, which will be set up on a total area of 26,500 square meters in northwest Saudi Arabia. Its land mass will extend across the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, rendering it the first private zone to span three countries.

The new development will operate as an independent economic zone with its own laws, taxes and regulations, according to its official website. It will be solely powered by renewable energy.