 "PM seeks investment in key infra projects")
The visit yet again highlighted the Modi government's efforts to strengthen relations with GCC countries, and comes in the backdrop of New Delhi's sustained outreach to Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
On Sunday in Riyadh, the Indian PM led his side to delegation-level discussions with the Saudi side and later had restricted talks with the Saudi King. The two sides signed five agreements, including an agreement to strengthen cooperation in the exchange of intelligence related to money laundering and terror financing and another framework agreement for investment promotion cooperation between Invest India and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority to facilitate investments by their respective private sectors in the two countries.
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If the highlight of the PM's visit to the UAE in August was his address to a stadium packed with non-resident Indians in Dubai and sundry commitments of investments, in Riyadh, Modi announced a helpline for the 2.96-million Indian workers in that country. He said India would set up workers' resource centres in Riyadh and Jeddah. Indian workers in Saudi Arabia send remittances to the tune of $10 billion every year. In addition, as many as 134,000 Indians visit Saudi Arabia each year to perform Haj.
During a busy day, the PM interacted with Saudi women IT professionals at the first-of- its-kind all-women TCS training centre in Riyadh. He spent around 40 minutes at the centre and posed for selfies. At the TCS Centre 1,000 women work in business processing outsourcing operations, with 85 per cent of whom being Saudi nationals.
Later in the day, Modi interacted with a group of 30 top Saudi CEOs and Indian business leaders at the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce. He invited Saudi Aramco, SABIC (Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation) and other Saudi companies to invest in the infrastructure sector in India and to participate in projects creating mega industrial manufacturing corridors, Smart Cities as well as the Digital India and Startup India programmes. Saudi Arabia is planning to set up the world's largest sovereign wealth fund of around Rs 132.46 lakh crore.
Aramco, the world's largest oil firm with crude reserves of about 265 billion barrels, said it had plans to make a major investment in India's petroleum sector as it considers India the most preferred destination to invest at a time when the global economy is in distress.
Talking about his government's initiative in "high temperature deep sea offshore exploration", Modi invited Saudi investment in the sector which has been opened up for foreign direct investment from this month. He said a 'most transparent' policy framework has been put in place and that a market-driven revenue-sharing model would be adopted for such project. He pitched for Saudi investments in rail, housing, ports, and the defence sector.
The Saudi side expressed its keenness to establish a Saudi bank in India. The State Bank of India already has a branch in Saudi Arabia, but no Saudi bank has operations in India. Indian officials said the issue was being looked at by the Reserve Bank of India as the Saudi bank would function on the principles of Islamic banking or interest-free banking.
Saudi Arabia is India's biggest supplier of crude oil to India and the fourth-largest trading partner. Both sides agreed that the two-way bilateral trade at Rs 2.6 lakh crore (in 2014-15) was healthy, but there was a need to diversify to non-oil trade.
India sought Saudi investment and joint ventures in petrochemical complexes, and cooperation in joint exploration in India, Saudi Arabia and in third countries. Modi and the Saudi King expressed the need for regular meetings under the umbrella of India-Saudi Arabia Ministerial Energy Dialogue, a joint statement issued after the talks stated.
The joint statement also talked about the intent of the two countries to cooperate on issues of terrorism and cyber-security. "Affirming that the menace of extremism and terrorism threatens all nations and societies, the two leaders rejected totally any attempt to link this universal phenomenon to any particular race, religion or culture," it stated. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has deported several terrorists wanted by India.
Without reference to Pakistan or any other country, India and Saudi Arabia "called on all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries; dismantle terrorism infrastructures where they happen to exist and to cut off any kind of support and financing to the terrorists operating and perpetrating terrorism from their territories against other states; and bring perpetrators of acts of terrorism to justice".
| MODISPEAK |
| "I want to give a house to every poor Indian. I think every year a new Saudi Arabia has to be built in my country. That is a huge requirement" - inviting infrastructure investment "To defeat terrorism, all those who believe in humanity have to be united. We need to delink religion from terrorism…. There can be no distinction between 'good' or 'bad' terrorism" "We are importing everything. Why not we develop defence equipment in India. Your investment can play a major role in this" - inviting investment in defence "Today, the world is facing a very deep economic crisis and in this situation, India is a beacon of hope" - on growth prospects "GST will happen. I cannot give a timeframe, but it will happen. It was our commitment, and it is about to happen" "As far as retrospective tax is concerned, it is a thing of the past. We have repeatedly said this in Parliament and I am repeating here again today" "Thank you Saudi Arabia. Joined several programmes during my visit, which will deepen economic & people-to-people ties between our nations" - on Twitter source: PTI |