Pakistan's support to terror and its involvement in Pulwama attack last week will be one of the focus as Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammad bin Salman visits India
Pakistan's support to terror and its involvement in Pulwama attack last week will the focus of discussion as Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammad bin Salman visits India.
He will be on a two-day India visit starting on February 19 and ending on February 20.
Remember Riyadh bailed out Islamabad last year financially. Riyadh can tighten the purse strings for Islamabad if it doesn't rein in terror. The Prince will be coming to Delhi after his visit to Pakistan.
During his visit, he will be calling on President Ram Nath Kovind and have bilateral talks with Prime Minister Modi.
This will be Mohammad bin Salman's second meet with PM Modi in a span of three months. They last met on November 29 in Argentina on the sidelines of G20 summit.
"One the issues which could come up for discussion are trade and investment, defense, security including counter-terrorism is another. Renewable energy which is something that is coming up as an important area of cooperation," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in his weekly briefing last week.
Modi had also visited Riyadh in April of 2016. During the visit, Salman had honoured the PM with "Sash of King Abdulaziz", the highest civilian decoration awarded by the West Asian country.
Saudi Arabia is the fourth largest trading partner of India after China, US, and Japan. India imports 17 per cent of its crude oil requirement from the kingdom. The bilateral trade between India and Saudi Arabia stood at $27.48 billion in FY 2017-18, a year on year increase of 9.56 per cent.
Raveesh Kumar said, "The objective is to consolidate the strategic partnership which we have with the country."
The crown prince is the second most important person, after the king and designated successor, in one of the largest oil producer nations of the world.
In April 2018, Saudi Aramco, the largest company in the world by revenue, signed an MoU with an Indian consortium (IOC, HPCL & BPCL) to acquire 50 per cent stake in India’s largest refinery project ‘Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited’ at $ 44 billion.
A 2.7 million strong Indian community is in Saudi Arabia. Haj pilgrimage is an important component of bilateral relations.
In 2018, Riyadh increased the Indian Hajj Quota by 5,000, enabling 1,75,025 Indian to perform Hajj last year.
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 "Pak's terror support to be discussed on Saudi prince's arrival in India")
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