Issues that dominated talks between Saudi Crown Prince and PM Modi

The Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, on a 30-hour India visit, participated in bilateral talks with India, spanning issues such as counter-terrorism, tourism, trade and investment and more.

Saudi Crown Prince on terrorism

India and Saudi Arabia agreed to increase pressure on countries that are supporting terrorism. mourning the loss of more than 40 Army and CRPF soldiers martyred in a terrorist attack and a subsequent encounter in Kashmir in February. Prince MBS said that extremism and terrorism were of concern to Saudi Arabia too. He offered to support countries to counter terrorist activities. "We Will cooperate with India in every way, like intelligence sharing, " he added.

Expanding ties

After he was given a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the crown prince talked about historical linkages between the two countries and stressed on expanding the ties further. "The relationship between India and Saudi Arabia is in our DNA....Today, we want to ensure that the relationship is maintained and improved for sake of both the countries and with the leadership of Mr President and the Prime Minister, we can create good things for both the countries," he told reporters.
He also talked about the contribution of lakhs of Indians in the overall development of Saudi Arabia.

Energy

Given that India is the world's third largest oil importer and Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter, both sides will obviously continue to focus on energy synergies. "Given that India is the world's third largest oil importer and Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter, both sides will obviously continue to focus on energy synergies," stated Modi. The bilateral talks will cover Saudi Aramco's investment in refineries in India, including the stalled $44 billion refinery in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra

Trade and Investment

The Prince said he saw investment opportunities of more than $100 billion in India over the next two years. Oil may be the biggest import from Saudi Arabia, but the trade basket includes several other commodities. In fact, the Gulf nation is India's fourth largest trading partner and in 2017-18 alone, bilateral trade was worth $27.48 billion.

Tourism, housing and information and broadcasting

Both sides are also expected to sign MoUs in areas of tourism, housing and information and broadcasting. Tourism, in particular, is seen to be a mutually-beneficial field. In 2015, Indian nations travelling to Saudi Arabia accounted for 6.7% of the country's total share. Similarly, Saudi Arabia is one of the potential tourist generating market for India from Middle East. So the MoU in this area could be instrumental in increasing tourist footfalls for both nations.

Politics, security and culture

India has been identified as one of the eight strategic partners with whom Saudi Arabia intends to deepen partnership in areas of political, security, and culture. "The single most important agreement that we are going to sign, will be the establishment of the high cooperation council which will be headed by the Crown Prince on the Saudi side and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Indian side. With this, you are going to have direct contact between the two countries. For Saudi Arabia, this type of high cooperation council exists with only US and China. India is the third country. It shows the importance of we give to these countries." Kamel Al-Munajjed, Chairman of the Saudi Indian Business Council, and the head of a 50-member CEO delegation that is accompanying Prince Salman, revealed.