- Sunday, March 09, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Saudi crown prince and the newly appointed prime minister of the Kingdom, Mohammed bin Salman, is expected to be in New Delhi for a day’s visit on November 14.
He will meet Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and national security advisor Ajit Doval, before heading to Bali, Indonesia, for the G20 Leader’s Summit. The programme is still evolving and there is no formal announcement of the visit yet.
Trade and investment will be the key areas of focus during talks between India-Saudi leadership in New Delhi, Asian News International reported citing a source.
Trade between the two countries stands at nearly $43 billion this fiscal year.
Source told ANI that India is looking for more exports to the kingdom, Saudi is already a big market for Indian footwear and textiles.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is also hoping to expand its base into India’s petrochemical sector.
Talks on the formation of mutual halal certification agencies to stop misuse and undersea power transmission line from Saudi to India are also progressing.
Deliberation is also taking place on institutionalizing the Rupee-Riyal trade, introduction of UPI and RuPay cards.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has led to a massive jump in global inflation led by spiraling oil prices. Saudi is a major oil exporter to India and New Delhi will be hoping for some relief in this aspect.
The Saudi-led OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) is already under fire for cutting oil production from November onwards. The United States says it is a political move and many experts says that this will lead to a further increase in global inflation.
Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman recently visited India.
Jaishankar visited Riyadh in September and discussed cooperation in the political, security and socio-cultural pillars of strategic partnership.
