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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  India to host Saudi Arabia crown prince, Iran foreign minister
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India to host Saudi Arabia crown prince, Iran foreign minister

Oil and the end game in Afghanistan will be the common talking points with the Gulf and Middle East leaders

The importance of Saudi Arabia for India can be gauged from the fact that it is home to 2.88 million Indians, the largest in the Gulf and Middle East. Photo: APPremium
The importance of Saudi Arabia for India can be gauged from the fact that it is home to 2.88 million Indians, the largest in the Gulf and Middle East. Photo: AP

New Delhi: India will be doing a diplomatic balancing act by hosting leaders of two key states of the strategically important Gulf and Middle Eastern region this week, with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and the foreign minister of Iran expected in New Delhi, and energy and the end game in Afghanistan being common talking points, government officials say.

Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is also the kingdom’s deputy prime minister and defence minister is set to arrive in India on 26 February on a three-day visit while Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif is on a two- day trip starting 27 February.

The visits come amidst interesting geopolitical changes in the region—the recent estrangement between one-time allies, the US and Saudi Arabia over the civil war in Syria and the possible rapprochement between Western countries and the till recently international pariah, Iran, given the breakthrough in talks over Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme. Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shia-dominated Iran have been at odds for decades given that both are contenders for influence over the countries in the region with significant Shia and Sunni populations.

“It helps (India) to balance the relationship since both (Saudi Arabia and Iran) are pitted against each other in West Asia, in context of Sunni-Shia conflict," said former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal. In the case of Syria, for example, Iran is backing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad while Saudi Arabia was backing the opposition in the ongoing civil war, Sibal noted. “It is wise to have political communication with both sides. It is also optically good to have both visits in the same week," he said.

With the region—that includes states like the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain— home to 7 million expatriate Indians who send back $30 billion home annually, India has always been keen to forge stronger ties with these countries. “This is really one of the most important relationships that we have across the globe. The Gulf countries provide almost 60% of our energy requirement. The Gulf countries are our largest trading partner by far as a regional group. And we are looking at an annual trade of over $180 billion, which is almost 26% of our global trade," Mridul Kumar, joint secretary, Gulf, in the ministry of external affairs, told reporters over the weekend.

The importance of Saudi Arabia for India can be gauged from the fact that it is home to 2.88 million Indians, the largest in the Gulf and Middle East. Saudi Arabia is also the source of energy with almost one-fifth of India’s total imports of about 170 million tonnes in 2012-13 being sourced from the kingdom, official data show. Bilateral trade in the same period was $43 billion. In recent years, ties between Saudi Arabia and India have added a strategic dimension. Then Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrim bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud visited India in 2009, months after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that India blamed on sections within Pakistan, seen as traditionally close to Saudi Arabia. Cooperation in counter-terrorism has picked up since then with India and Saudi Arabia signed an extradition pact in 2010. In 2012, Saudi Arab facilitated the arrest and returned to India of three terror suspects including Abu Jundal, regarded as one of the masterminds of the 2008 terror attacks.

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Published: 23 Feb 2014, 11:44 PM IST
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