Russia and Qatar sign 2 billion euro investment deal

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and Qatar signed an agreement on Thursday under which each country will pay an extra 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion)into a joint investment fund, a Russian official said.

"This is an agreement to expand our investment platform with Qatar by the amount of about two billion euros, one billion euros from each side. This will allow us to invest more, to attract more Qatari investment money into various projects in Russia," said Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

RDIF said in a statement that the deal with the Qatar Investment Authority, the Gulf state's sovereign wealth fund, will focus on investment in technology, healthcare, minerals and other sectors of mutual interest.

The two funds launched a $4 billion joint venture in 2014.

Dmitriev told reporters that Qatar was a major investor in Russian infrastructure, and Russian companies were interested in entering the Middle East market with Qatari partners.

The agreement was signed at a meeting in Moscow between President Vladimir Putin and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

($1 = 0.8811 euros)

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Gleb Bryanski, writing by Mark Trevelyan)