Source : INDIATV NEWS
The visit is aimed at strengthening India and Saudi Arabia’s “multi-faceted” friendship and deepening ties across sectors of trade, defence, investment and energy, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on an official visit to Saudi Arabia from April 22-23 at the invitation of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
This will be PM Modi’s third visit to the kingdom, with previous ones taking place in 2016 and 2019.
According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the visit follows Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s state visit to New Delhi in September 2023, during which he attended the G20 Summit and co-chaired the first meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council.
India and Saudi Arabia enjoy a longstanding relationship, built on historical trade ties and deep socio-cultural connections.
India-Saudi Arabia bilateral ties
India and Saudi Arabia share close and friendly ties with a long history of socio-cultural and trade contacts. As strategic partners, the two countries share strong bilateral relations across various areas including political, defence, security, trade, investment, energy, technology, health, education, culture and people-to-people ties, the MEA said in an official release.
India’s relations with the Kingdom have evolved into a stronger and enduring partnership in the past decade, expanding into many strategic domains, with growing investment commitments, broadening of defence cooperation and intensive high-level exchanges across sectors, it added.
PM Modi’s visit reflects the importance India attaches to its bilateral relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It will provide an opportunity to further deepen and strengthen our multi-faceted partnership, as well as to exchange views on various regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Economic cooperation
Saudi Arabia is India’s fifth-largest trade partner, and India is Saudi Arabia’s second-largest trade partner. During FY 2023-24, India’s imports from Saudi Arabia reached $31.42 billion, and exports to Saudi Arabia were worth $11.56 billion.
Major commodities of export from India to Saudi Arabia include engineering goods, rice, petroleum products, chemicals, textiles, food products, ceramic tiles. whereas, major commodities of import for India from Saudi Arabia are crude oil, LPG, fertilizers, chemicals, plastic and products thereof etc.
The total Saudi investment in India including that of PIF, other Saudi companies and Saudi backed Vision Fund, has been about USD 10 billion. Major investments include PIF’s investment in Reliance Jio Platforms, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, Oyo Hotels, Healthtech Healthifyme’s etc.
Defence ties
Indian Chief of Army Staff, General Manoj Mukund Naravane visited Saudi Arabia in December 2020. Two editions of the bilateral naval exercise ‘Al Mohed Al Hindi’ have been concluded.
The first ever official visit to India by the Royal Saudi Naval Forces Chief of Staff (Adm. Fahd Al-Ghufaili) took place in Jan 2024. The first ever India-Saudi Joint Land Force Exercise ‘EX-SADA TANSEEQ-I’ was conducted in Rajasthan on Jan 29 – Feb 10, 2024.
Saudi Arabia participated in the ‘TARANG SHAKTI-24’ multinational exercise in 2024. The 6th meeting of Joint Committee Defence Cooperation (JS level) was held in Riyadh on September 3, 2024.
