India-Saudi Arabia partnership crucial for stability, welfare of region and world, says PM Modi
By ANDALIB AKHTER
Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud on going visit to New Delhi has given a new impetus to the relationship between the two countries. During the meeting with Prime Minister Modi, today Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia rightly said that there was no disagreement at all during the history of India-Saudi Arabia relationship but there is cooperation to build the future of the countries and create opportunities.
He congratulated Mr Modi on the management of the G-20 Summit and the initiatives achieved, including the Economic Corridor linking the Middle East, India and Europe. He also commended the Indian community, which constitutes 7% of the population of Saudi Arabia, for its significant contribution to the economic growth of the Kingdom, saying that “we consider them a part of us. Through this council, we hope to meet the aspirations of our peoples.”
The Indian prime minister said he is looking forward to strengthening the partnership with Saudi Arabia in various fields.
Crown Prince and the Indian prime minister also signed the minutes of the Saudi-Indian Strategic Partnership Council.
During the bilateral and delegation level the two leaders reviewed the various facets of bilateral ties and discussed ways to further unlock the potential of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership.
Speaking during the meeting, Mr Modi said, India-Saudi Arabia partnership crucial for stability, welfare of region and world. He said, Saudi Arabia is important for India. Mr Modi again thanked the Crown Prince for his contribution in the success of G20 Summit. He said, decision has been taken to start a historic economic corridor between India, West Asia and Europe. The Prime Minister said, this corridor will not only connect two countries but also help in providing economic growth and digital connectivity between Asia, West Asia and Europe. Mr Modi said, under the leadership of Crown Prince and vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has seen tremendous economic growth.
Co-chairing the first Meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council SPC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, for India, Saudi Arabia is one of its most important strategic partners. He said, as two large and fast-growing economies of the world, the mutual cooperation is important for peace and stability in the entire region. Mr Modi said, in the talks, both nations have identified several initiatives to take the partnership to the next level. He said, today’s talks will provide new energy and direction to thr relations. This will provide us inspiration to work together for the welfare of humanity.
The Crown Prince is on a three day state visit to India. He arrived in New Delhi on Saturday to attend the 18th G20 summit.
Strategic Partnership
The historic visits of Prime Minister Modi to the Kingdom in 2016 and 2019 and the State visit of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to India in February, 2019 has marked a new era in the bilateral relations, which culminated in the setting up of the Strategic Partnership Council (SPC), co-chaired by the two leaders. Besides that, the two sides signed 11 other MoUs in the fields of energy, security, combating trafficking of narcotic drugs, defence production, civil aviation, medical products, strategic petroleum reserves, small and medium scale industries, launch of Rupay card, cooperation in training of diplomats, cooperation between stock exchanges, etc. There have been a number of Ministerial visits from both sides on regular basis.
Strategic Partnership Council is a holistic institution covering various sectors of cooperation, overarching the existing institutional mechanisms of Joint Working Commission. The SPC has two pillars: i) Political-Security-Socio-Cultural (PSSC); and ii) Economic and Investment. EAM and the Saudi Foreign Minister co-chair the Political-Security-Socio-Cultural (PSSC) pillar whereas the Economic pillar is co-chaired by Commerce & Industry Minister on Indian side and Energy Minister on Saudi side.
India- Saudi economic ties
India and Saudi Arabia share centuries old economic and socio-cultural ties. Economic ties constitute a keynote aspect of the bilateral strategic partnership. The Delhi Declaration signed in 2006 on the sidelines of King Abdullah’s visit to India and Riyadh Declaration signed in 2010 during the Prime Ministerial visit boosted the energy cooperation between both countries. The Riyadh Declaration committed the two sides to a strategic partnership based on complementarity and interdependence.
Saudi Arabia is India’s Second largest trade partner, after China. In FY 2022-23 India’s imports from Saudi Arabia reached US $42.03 billion and exports to Saudi Arabia were worth US$ 10.72 billion registering an increase of 22.48% over last year. Total trade with Saudi Arabia accounted for 4.53% of India’s total trade in FY 2022-23.
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.
Indian investments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have also spiked in the recent years and have reached approximately USD 2 Billion. These investments are dispersed in diverse sectors such as management and consultancy services, construction projects, telecommunications, information technology, financial services and software development, pharmaceuticals, etc. Major Indian companies and corporate groups such as L&T, TATA, Wipro, TCS, TCIL, Shapoorji & Pallonji, Air India, Go Air, Indigo, and SpiceJet etc. have established a robust presence in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is the 18th largest investor in India with investments amounting to $3.14 billion (March 2022). Major investments include PIF’s investments in Reliance Jio Platforms ($1.5 billion to acquire a 2.32% stake) and Reliance Retail Ventures Limited ($1.3 billion to acquire a 2.04% stake).
Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Company (SALIC) has acquired a 33% stake in Daawat Foods Limited through its subsidiary United Farmers Investment Company, for a value of $17.23 million. Additionally, in July 2021, PIF invested in India-based healthtech Healthifyme’s $75 million Series C funding round, indicating a growing appetite for the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund to invest in sunrise sectors. Apart from PIF, major investment groups from the Kingdom include ARAMCO, SABIC, and ZAMIL. Soft Bank’s ‘Vision Fund’ has invested in several Indian Start-ups such as Delhivery, FirstCry, Grofers, Ola, OYO, Paytm and PolicyBazaar. SABIC has invested over $ 100 million in its technology and innovation Centre in Bengaluru, one of the largest investments in India by a Saudi company.
During his visit to India in February 2019, Saudi Crown Prince had announced that the Kingdom would be investing US $100 billion in India in diversified sectors such as energy, refining, petrochemicals, infrastructure, agriculture, minerals and mining, manufacturing, education and health in the forthcoming years.
