Riyadh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a visit to Saudi Arabia. His visit is considered very important in terms of trade, tourism, energy and military relations between the two countries. During this, PM Modi will also meet Saudi Arabia's Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. This is PM Modi's third visit to Saudi Arabia as Prime Minister. This shows how important Saudi Arabia is for PM Modi. However, Pakistan is definitely upset with India-Saudi Arabia relations. The main reason for this is that Saudi Arabia, which was called Pakistan's ATM till now, has now become a strong friend of India.
Why is PM Modi's visit important
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Saudi Arabia is taking place at a time when India is looking to further strengthen ties with the major oil exporter and OPEC+ leader amid growing global trade uncertainty due to US tariffs. India and Saudi Arabia have further strengthened their bilateral ties in the last few years through economic cooperation, defense cooperation, energy partnership and cultural exchange.
Which decision of Saudi Arabia strengthened the relationship
India and Saudi Arabia's relations are historical. Although there have been ups and downs in it, it has continuously strengthened in the last 10 years. The main reason for this is the decision of Saudi Arabia, which wrote a new chapter of relations with India. This decision was to support India's stand on Kashmir. When India removed Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019, Pakistan started beating its chest all over the world. It gathered Muslim countries and started speaking nonsense against India. However, Saudi Arabia, the world's most powerful Muslim country, remained silent.
Pakistan tried to show its eyes to Saudi Arabia
Due to this silence of Saudi Arabia, the then Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi got angry and he made a strong statement. This angered Saudi Arabia and to convince it, Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had to rush to Riyadh. Not only this, the then Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan started the initiative to form a separate Islamic group with Turkish dictator "Caliph" Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, so that Saudi Arabia could be isolated.
Pakistan got isolated
Saudi Arabia got so angry at this that not only Turkey and Malaysia backed down, but Pakistan also had to apologize. Saudi Arabia asked Pakistan to immediately repay its debt and also stopped the supply of oil and gas on the loan. Not only this, Saudi also reduced military ties with Pakistan. From here a new beginning of India-Saudi Arabia friendship started, which kept getting stronger with time.
India-Saudi Arabia trade relations
Saudi Arabia has emerged as India's fifth-largest trading partner, while India has become the Kingdom's second-largest trading partner. In 2019, Prince Salman pledged to increase Saudi investment in India to $100 billion in the coming years. India is already a major recipient of Saudi crude oil, and state-backed energy giant Saudi Aramco has long expressed interest in investing in the country.
Saudi invests heavily in India
According to the Embassy of India in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's total investment in India is around $10 billion. This also includes stakes taken in Reliance subsidiaries by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, known as PIF. In the financial year 2023-24, India's imports from Saudi Arabia stood at $31.42 billion and exports at $11.56 billion. Saudi Arabia is also working together with India, the UAE and the European Union to launch the IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor) – a major infrastructure initiative aimed at enhancing connectivity and trade between India, the Middle East and Europe.
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