PM Modi to host Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman today, Middle-East corridor implementation on the agenda

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House today. Ahead of the meeting, the Crown Prince will also be accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhawan at 10 am.

In an earlier statement, the Ministry of External Affairs had noted "During this visit, he will attend the G20 Summit being hosted in India on September 9-10, 2023 and will continue his stay in India on September 11, 2023 for the State visit,"

Salman, who arrived in New Delhi on Friday to attend the 18th G20 Leaders' Summit, is also expected to sign the minutes of the first meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council at Hyderabad House around 12 pm, ANI reported.

The Crown Prince will meet President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhawan at around 6:30 pm and will depart the country at around 8:30 pm.

India, the US, Saudi Arabia and the European Union had on Saturday also announced an agreement to launch the mega India-Middle East-Europe shipping and rail connectivity corridor. PM Modi along with US President Joe Biden, Saudi Crown Prince and EU leaders had made the announcement for the new project on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

PM Modi, while speaking about the mega project at the Bharat Mandapam, had said that it would give a sustainable direction to connectivity and sustainability across the world and congratulated all the leaders associated with the connectivity corridor.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prince while speaking at the same event had said, “We look forward to the integration of the initiative and the Economic Corridor project which is announced in this meeting. I would like to thank those who worked with us to reach this founding step to establish this important economic corridor...”

(With inputs from ANI)