India-Saudi Arabia partnership is crucial for the stability and welfare of the region: PM Modi

Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman who even holds the prime minister position participated in the G20 Summit held in Delhi on 9-10 September, 2023 met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during this time. Mohammed bin Salman, also better known as MBS visited India to review bilateral ties and cooperation in segments ranging from energy to security.

Saudi deputy minister for political and economic affairs, Saud Al-Sati travelled to New Delhi last month to review preparations for MBS's visit. Al-Sati, who served as the ambassador to India, met Ausaf Sayeed, secretary (overseas Indian affairs) in the external affairs ministry, and reviewed bilateral relations. Current Saudi ambassador, Saleh Eid Alhusseini met external affairs minister S Jaishankar. “Look forward to the further development and progress of the India-Saudi Arabia relationship across all domains,” added Jaishankar.

In June, PM Modi and MBS had a phone conversation when they reviewed bilateral cooperation and discussed ways to bolster ties in connectivity, energy, defence, trade and investment. This was the first contact between the leaders of both countries after China brokered a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the India-Saudi Arabia partnership is crucial for the stability, and welfare of the region and world. Ministry of External Affairs tweet stated, “Agenda included a broad range of areas of bilateral cooperation including energy security, trade and investment, defence and security, healthcare, food security, culture and community welfare issues among others.”

In the last decade, Saudi Arabia has become one of India’s key partners in West Asia in the defence, security and energy segment. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is home to 2.6 million Indians, the highest number of expats in the MENA region.

Crown Prince and PM of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said, “There was no disagreement at all during the history of this (India-Saudi Arabia) relationship. But there is cooperation to build the future of our country and create opportunities. Today we are working on future opportunities.”

In February 2019, MBS visited India and Modi visited Saudi Arabia in October of the same year, and the two countries created the Strategic Partnership Council. This body has two pillars – a political, security, social and cultural committee headed by the foreign ministers, and a committee on economy and investments led by the Indian commerce minister and the Saudi energy minister.