S Jaishankar, Saudi Crown Prince meet; bilateral ties in focus

Foreign minister S Jaishankar on Sunday held a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in Jeddah as bilateral ties remained in focus. Jaishankar kicked off his first visit to Saudi Arabia - as the external affairs minister - on Saturday.

"Honoured to call on HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah this evening,” Jaishankar wrote in a tweet. “Conveyed the warm greetings of PM @narendramodi. Apprised him of the progress in our bilateral relations. Thank him for sharing his vision of our ties," he further added.

India's ties with Saudi Arabia "have strengthened considerably over the past few years including in political, security, energy, trade, investment, health, food security, cultural and defence fields," a foreign ministry statement had highlighted ahead of S Jaishankar's visit. "The top leadership of both countries remained in close touch even during the Covid pandemic," it underlined.

During his visit, the foreign minister over the weekend had also met his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan where he discussed “political and economic concerns.” The two leaders - during their interaction - also agreed “to work closely together in G20 and multilateral organizations,” the union minister said.

In one of the addresses, Jaishakar had also pointed out the country’s efforts during the Vande Bharat Mission. "We brought back 70 million people under the Vande Bharat Mission from all over the world. No one has done that, it is the biggest evacuation and was done during the Covid-19 pandemic. That is India that the world sees today," said Jaishankar during his interaction. The Vande Bharat Mission was launched to ensure the return of Indian nationals stranded due to the pandemic in different parts of the world in 2020.