Islamic World in the Focus of Russia’s Foreign Trade Policy

Abstract

The article discusses the current trends, areas and prospects for trade and economic relations between Russia and the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The historical, political, economic, financial, and technological prerequisites for deepening trade and cooperation between Russia and the Islamic countries, which have been increasing their influence in the world, are revealed. In recent years there has been a qualitative increase in the role of the OIC countries as trade and economic partners of Russia, as evidenced by a significant expansion of mutual trade, an increase in the share of the Islamic countries in domestic exports of food and high value-added industrial products, a multiple growth of mutual foreign direct investments in the 2010s, scaling up cooperation in traditional and new energy industries (including peaceful atomic energy), in the field of industrial production and infrastructure (The International North-South Transport Corridor, energy transportation projects). None of the OIC member countries (except Albania) joined the anti-Russian sanctions of the collective West, which predetermined the preservation of high dynamism of economic interactions in 2022-2023, and today allows us to talk about the existing significant potential for further development of the cooperation. The prospects for increasing domestic non-primary non-energy exports to the Islamic countries, in general and in key segments, expanding technological cooperation based on modern platform solutions, Russia’s participation in large-scale investment projects in the Islamic world, joint development of natural resources, and the operation of new logistics routes were determined by calculation and expert valuation methods. Therefore, it is argued that the ideas and mechanisms of constructive multilateralism, intensification of economic and trade cooperation with the Global South on the expanding platforms of the SCO and BRICS could be promoted through cooperation between Russia and the OIC countries.