DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — President Vladimir Putin of Russia arrived in Qatar Monday to discuss trade, security and the formation a natural gas cartel on the second leg of a three-day tour of the Middle East widely seen as an attempt to expand Russia's strategic role in the region.

"We seek to develop special relations between Qatar and Russia," said Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, shortly after Putin arrived. "Relations at all levels have been developing vigorously over the past year and a half."

Putin, who arrived from an overnight state visit to Saudi Arabia, held talks with the Emir over military and trade cooperation, the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported. Both leaders pledged to expand cooperation to better manage the worldwide supply of natural gas, but remained tentative about the possibility of forming a new natural gas cartel.

"We do not reject the idea of creating a gas cartel," Putin told reporters late Monday. "But this initiative requires more study."

Putin said he would dispatch experts to a natural gas conference in Doha in April to discuss the creation of a cartel modeled after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the powerful oil cartel that holds sway over the world's oil prices. Russia, which became the largest oil producer in the world this year, is not a member of OPEC.

"It's important to cooperate and to help each other. We also work together to defend the interests of gas exporters and coordinate our relations toward the consumers," he said.

European leaders have expressed concern over even the mention of a gas cartel, in which Russia would likely hold significant power and could raise prices as it has against several East European states over the past year.

Earlier Monday, in the Saudi capitol, Riyadh, Putin met with Saudi businessmen seeking to encourage bilateral trade and technology cooperation, and even pledged to assist Saudi Arabia in developing nuclear power generation capability.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes all the Persian Gulf Arab states, announced their intention to develop nuclear technology in December, an apparent signal to Iran and the United States that they would match Iran's nuclear development efforts if need be.

In meetings with King Abdullah late Sunday, both leaders called for joint development and cooperation in sectors like communications, technology and transport, the official Saudi news agency, SPA, reported. Putin also noted his keenness to expand bilateral relations between either county.

Trade between Saudi Arabia and Russia has risen from $88.5 million in 1999, to more than $400 million in 2005.

"Russia is determined to further enhance its relations with Muslim countries, especially the Arab countries," Putin told a group of Saudi businessmen at the Riyadh Chamber of commerce early Monday. "We are all allies of the Kingdom in working to meet the world's need for energy."

Russia and the Gulf Arab countries, once rivals from opposite ideological bents, have found a common agenda of oil, terrorism, and arms sales, wrote Abdelaziz Sager, chairman of the Gulf Research Center in the Qatari English-language daily The Peninsula on Monday.

Putin will continue his Middle Eastern trip Tuesday by traveling to Amman, Jordan where he will meet with King Abdullah II to discuss economic and political cooperation, as well as meet with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.