PM Modi to begin 2-day visit to Saudi Arabia visit from April 22

Trade and investment, energy and defence cooperation, the regional security situation and connectivity initiatives are expected to figure in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman next week, foreign secretary Vikram Misri said on Saturday.

The two countries are expected to finalise several agreements to bolster cooperation during the visit, which will see Modi and Mohammed bin Salman co-chair the second meeting of the bilateral Strategic Partnership Council, Misri told a media briefing.

PM 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. He will also visit a factory to interact with Indian workers. This will be Modi’s third visit to Saudi Arabia, and follows a trip to India by Mohammed bin Salman, who is also Prime Minister, in September 2023 to attend the G20 Summit.

Misri emphasised the importance of Saudi Arabia as a partner because of its key role in India’s energy security and as a leading voice in the Islamic world. Saudi Arabia hosts the second largest Indian expatriate community of 2.7 million and is increasingly playing an important role in efforts to resolve the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Energy trade was worth $25.7 billion during 2023-24, and Saudi Arabia was India’s third-largest source of both crude oil imports (14.3% of total imports) and liquefied petroleum gas (18% of total imports).

“There is the prospect of significant investment from Saudi Arabia. There are a few procedural issues that Saudi Arabia had raised with regard to the environment in which Saudi businesses and... Saudi sovereign wealth funds... would invest in India,” Misri said. “We have worked very constructively on those issues.”

The Saudi Crown Prince unveiled plans for $100 billion in investments during a visit to India in 2019, though this is yet to materialise. People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that one of the issues flagged by the Saudi side was taxation of investments. Total Saudi investments in India, including those of sovereign wealth funds, are worth about $10 billion.

Misri said the two sides are looking to institutionalise defence cooperation, which has grown substantially in recent years, and plan to have more exchanges, training, exercises and high-level engagements.

India has emerged as a supplier of defence stores to Saudi Arabia with the signing of agreements for artillery ammunition worth more than $300 million. The first joint exercise between land forces was held in 2024 and the two sides are preparing for the third edition of their naval exercise Al Mohed Al Hindi.

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”, he 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. Saudi Arabia India’s fifth largest trade partner.

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.

Misri also said freedom of navigation in the Red Sea amid attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, efforts to resolve the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war, and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) are expected to figure in the talks between the two sides. With energy connectivity as a key pillar of IMEC, the two sides are set to begin a study on the feasibility of connecting their electricity grids, he said.