PM Modi to visit Saudi Arabia next week
This will be PM Modi’s third visit to Saudi Arabia and follows a trip to India by Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince and prime minister, in September 2023
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Saudi Arabia next week to strengthen the bilateral partnership and to exchange views on regional and international issues, the external affairs ministry said on Saturday.
This will be Modi’s third visit to Saudi Arabia and follows a trip to India by Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince and prime minister, in September 2023 to attend the G20 Summit and co-chair the first meeting of the bilateral Strategic Partnership Council.
Modi, who will be in Saudi Arabia during April 22-23 at the invitation of the Crown Prince, is set to meet Mohammed bin Salman and other top leaders in Jeddah. The visit reflects the importance India attaches to its bilateral ties with Saudi Arabia, the ministry said.
The visit will “provide an opportunity to further deepen and strengthen our multi-faceted partnership, as well as to exchange views on various regional and international issues”, it said.
India and Saudi Arabia share strong ties in areas such as politics, defence, security, trade, investment, energy and people-to-people contacts. India’s relations with Saudi Arabia have “evolved into a stronger and enduring partnership in the past decade, expanding into many strategic domains, with growing investment commitments, broadening of defence cooperation and intensive high-level exchanges across sectors”, the ministry said.
The Israel-Hamas conflict and efforts to end the fighting, as well as security-related issues across West Asia, are expected to figure in discussions during the prime minister’s visit, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
The visit will also be an opportunity to take stock of trade and investment ties, which have grown significantly in recent years. Two-way trade was worth $43.3 billion in 2023-24, with Indian exports increasing during this period by 7.8% to almost $12 billion. India is currently Saudi Arabia’s second largest trade partner and plays a key role in the kingdom’s food security, with rice exports alone worth about $1 billion annually.
Bilateral defence relations too have grown, and the two sides are preparing for the third edition of their naval exercise Al Mohed Al Hindi. India’s first defence contract with Saudi Arabia in February 2024 – state-run Munitions Indian Limited (MIL) inked a deal worth $225 million to supply artillery ammunition – was followed by another deal worth $80 million for artillery ammunition last year.
Saudi Arabia is also home to 2.7 million Indians, one of the largest Indian expatriate communities in West Asia. The number of Indian workers in Saudi Arabia increased by 200,000 during 2023-24 while the number of registered Indian firms operating in the country grew to 3,000, propelled by a boom in construction, infrastructure and services.
