Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi on September 9, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP

On the sideline of the G20 summit, Saudi Arabia and India are likely to hold important meetings reflecting bilateral priorities. The exchanges are scheduled to be led by Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman who will participate in the G20 summit during the weekend and stay on for a State visit on Monday, September 11, when he is expected meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu. There are also reports that in the backdrop of the G20 summit, Saudi Arabia and India are in talks with the US and the UAE for an infrastructure connectivity project.

During the State visit, the Saudi Crown Prince will hold bilateral delegation level meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and co-chair the First Leaders’ Meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council. “They will review the progress made under the two Ministerial Committees of the Strategic Partnership Council i.e. Committee on Political, Security, Social and Cultural Cooperation and the Committee on Economy and Investments Cooperation,” said the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement. Saudi Arabia and India have been increasing synergy which has reflected in the way the military to military and multilateral cooperation broadened between the two governments. Earlier last month, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were among the new permanent members inducted into the BRICS grouping that also included former rival Iran.

Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute Director of the Wilson Center in Washington DC has hinted that a “infrastructure accord” among the US, India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are under process on the sideline of the G20 summit here saying ”If finalized, it would be a game changer that strengthens connectivity between India and the Middle East and would aim to counter BRI.”

‘Vision 2030’

The visit coincides with a three-day long event to highlight the most significant projects and initiatives under the “Vision 2030” of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Ministry of Media is organising the event in collaboration with NEOM, the Saudi Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Sports and the Saudi Tourism Authority. The event named, “Media Oasis” is expected to be attended by several Saudi ministers as the country plans to showcase ‘Red Sea International’ that showcases the leading tourism objectives of the mountains and seaside resorts along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. That apart, the exhibition has sections to highlight the sports sector of Saudi Arabia, energy potential of the Saudi economy.

This is the second State visit to India by the Crown Prince and his previous India visit took place in February 2019. Prime Minister Modi had visited Saudi Arabia in October 2019 when the two sides established the Strategic Partnership Council. India and Saudi Arabia have been cooperating in multiple formats to deal with challenges. Most recently, Saudi authorities provided extensive support to Indian air force and navy to evacuate citizens who were caught in the civil war in Sudan. Indian citizens from conflict-torn Sudanese cities  were brought to Jeddah and Port Said from Port Sudan with the help of Saudi naval and air support.

The MEA said, India is the second largest trading partner of Saudi Arabia and  bilateral trade between the two sides reached $52.75 billion during 2022-‘23