BackSushma Swaraj to hold talks with Saudi foreign minister on Tuesday
Saudi foreign minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir is on a two-day visit to India
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New Delhi: Saudi foreign minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir is on a two-day visit to India starting Monday to prepare the ground for the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia early next month.
Al Jubeir and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj will meet for talks on Tuesday during which “the two ministers will discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest," an Indian foreign ministry statement said.
“Previously, they (Al Jubeir and Swaraj) met on the sidelines of the First India-Arab League Ministerial meeting in Manama, Bahrain, on 24 January 2016," the statement said.
Modi is expected to visit Saudi Arabia—traditionally seen as closer to India’s arch rival Pakistan—from 2-4 April on his way back from the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.
Modi’s visit to Riyadh comes six years after the last visit by an Indian prime minister to Saudi Arabia. Then prime minister Manmohan Singh visited Riyadh in 2010.
“The ‘Strategic Partnership’ that the two countries established in 2010 envisioned a deeper engagement in political, economic, security and defence areas through the Riyadh Declaration. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and infrastructure development projects," the Indian statement said.
In recent years, India and Saudi Arabia have been sharing terrorism-related intelligence. A recent example is an exchange of information during the 2 January raid on India’s Pathankot airbase by suspected Pakistan-based militants.
During the visit to Saudi Arabia, a key source of energy for India and one of the most powerful Arab countries in the region, Modi is expected to hold talks with King Salman and others on key regional and bilateral issues, including trade and energy.
The visit comes against the backdrop of geopolitical flux in the wider Middle East region as well as tensions between Sunni majority Saudi Arabia and Shia majority Iran, which is looking to engage the world after years of sanctions on it for its clandestine nuclear programme were removed in January. Modi is also expected to visit Israel and Iran this year.
Besides being energy-deficient India’s largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for almost one fifth of its need, it is also India’s fourth largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia also hosts the largest population of Indian expatriates in the region.
There are over 2.96 million Indian nationals presently working in Saudi Arabia.
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