Saudi and Indian envoys stress significance of crown prince’s go to to India, participation at G20 | The Global Today

NEW DELHI: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in New Delhi on Saturday morning to steer the Kingdom’s delegation to the G20 leaders’ summit and for a state go to to India.

The Indian Ministry of Exterior Affairs mentioned in a press release on Saturday that the primary leaders’ assembly of the council is anticipated to happen on Monday and will probably be co-chaired by the crown prince and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“They may evaluation the progress made underneath the 2 Ministerial Committees of the Strategic Partnership Council, i.e. the Committee on Political, Safety, Social and Cultural Cooperation and the Committee on Financial system and Investments Cooperation,” the ministry mentioned.

“They may focus on all points of bilateral relations together with political, safety, protection, commerce and financial, cultural and people-to-people ties. Each the leaders can even focus on regional and worldwide problems with mutual curiosity.”

That is the Saudi crown prince’s second official journey to New Delhi, following a go to in February 2019, which lifted Saudi-Indian relations to new heights.

In October that 12 months, Modi reciprocated with a go to to Riyadh, the place the 2 international locations agreed to determine the Strategic Partnership Council to handle the connection

Whereas the Saudi-Indian strategic partnership is targeted on 4 areas — political, safety, socio-cultural relations and protection — the council additionally supervises bilateral relations within the fields of funding, financial partnerships, and counterterrorism.

This time it’s the economic system that’s anticipated to be the principle focus of the crown prince’s go to, particularly because it follows the G20 summit — the important thing annual assembly of the world’s largest economies — and can coincide with the Saudi-India Funding Discussion board in New Delhi, co-hosted by the Saudi Ministry of Funding on Sept. 11.

The discussion board is a part of an initiative designed to draw funding to Saudi Arabia according to Imaginative and prescient 2030 and the Nationwide Funding Technique.

“It’s a really important go to, for a number of causes,” Kabir Taneja, strategic affairs program fellow on the Observer Analysis Basis in New Delhi, instructed Arab Information. “The truth that India is internet hosting the crown prince instantly after the G20 showcases the significance of the go to.

“There are a number of kinds of aspects to the bilateral relations between India and Saudi Arabia. However, at the beginning, I believe proper now it’s economics.”

He mentioned that each international locations had been trying to discover exterior buyers and “like-minded international locations to work with, discover like-minded international locations to companion with on financial prosperity for his or her respective populations,” but in addition to work collectively within the international geopolitical panorama, the place economics has turn into the crux of many issues.

“Geoeconomics is as essential, if no more, as geopolitics and geopolitics itself is now type of anchored in economics — more and more, at the least,” mentioned Taneja.

“So this can be a very opportune time for each international locations to take a seat down and speak economics. We’re additionally listening to that there’s going to be a particular type of roundtable on investments.”

From the Indian aspect, one other essential subject more likely to be raised through the crown prince’s go to is vitality. In accordance with Taneja, India’s rising reliance on oil imports is “one thing that’s essential for New Delhi to issue into all types of geopolitics and geo-economics it desires to work round.”

Whereas Saudi-India ties have developed rapidly because the crown prince’s first go to, engagements between the 2 international locations all through the 2023 Indian presidency of the G20 have seen them additional solidified.

“The go to highlights the rising shared pursuits between India and Saudi Arabia on numerous international points,” Mohammed Soliman, strategic applied sciences director on the Center East Institute in Washington DC, instructed Arab Information.

“Riyadh and Delhi actively cooperate on regional stability and integration, vitality safety, and financial collaboration. Saudi Arabia performs a major function within the G20, having assumed the G20 presidency in 2020.

“The go to additionally gives a possibility for highlighting Saudi Arabia’s viewpoints on international points, together with vitality, local weather change, and financial cooperation, positioning Saudi Arabia as a serious participant within the G20’s efforts to embrace numerous views past the G7.”