AMN / WEB DESK
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Secretary General of Gulf Cooperation Council Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf on the mechanism of consultations between India and the GCC.
Dr Jaishankar also held a bilateral meeting with the GCC Secretary-General and discussed the relevance of India-GCC cooperation in context with the current regional and global situation.
The External Affairs Minister is on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia from 10-12 September. This is his first trip to the Kingdom as India’s External Affairs Minister.
Upon reaching Saudi Arabia, Dr Jaishankar addressed the Indian diaspora in Riyadh. During his address, Dr Jaishankar highlighted that India has made powerful efforts to actually grow its economy and move toward becoming a higher-income country.
He noted that despite the challenges posed by the Ukraine crisis, India is confident that it will be the fastest growing major economy in the world this year with at least 7 percent growth.
During his two-day visit, the external affairs minister will co-chair the inaugural Ministerial Meeting of the Committee on Political, Security, Social and Cultural Cooperation (PSSC), established under the framework of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council, with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
India-Saudi Arabia relations have strengthened considerably over the past few years including in political, security, energy, trade, investment, health, food security, cultural and defence fields.