Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman On A State Visit After G20 Summit (image-www.instagram/narendramodi)
Muhammad bin Salman, Crown prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia will be now staying back in India for a state visit after attending the G20 summit.
According to a statement by the Indian foreign Ministry, the crown prince will stay till Monday for the visit.
“At the invitation of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, will visit India from September 9-11, 2023,” it said.
The Saudi Crown Prince arrived at Delhi for a three day – tour which began with the G20 summit.
The Crown Prince will meet President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan and a bilateral meeting will be held with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both the leaders will co-chair the First Leaders Meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council. In the meeting, the leaders will review the progress made under the two Ministerial Committee of the Council namely the Political, Security, Social and Cultural Cooperation Committee and the Economy and Investments Cooperation Committee.
Trade, economy, defence, and cultural cooperation are the main topics of discussion. They will also discuss the regional and international issues of mutual interest, the government release stated.
India and Saudi Arabia shares historically close and friendly relations with extensive people-to-people contacts.
As per the government data, the trade between both countries reached all time high of USD 52.75 billion in FY 2022-23. They both are major trading partners. India is Saudi Arabia’s second largest trading partner whereas Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth largest trading partner.
Both the countries share a strong partnership in the area of energy. India, the US, Saudi Arabia and the European Union had on Saturday also announced an agreement to launch the mega India-Middle East-Europe shipping and rail connectivity corridor.
Saudi Arabia also facilitates around 2.4 million Indians and also provide Hajj pilgrimage for over 175,000 Indians every year.
This will be the second visit of the crown prince in India after 2019.
