{"id":41826,"date":"2025-04-23T19:26:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T13:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=41826"},"modified":"2025-04-23T19:26:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T13:56:51","slug":"pm-state-visit-to-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-04-2025\/pm-state-visit-to-saudi-arabia","title":{"rendered":"PM State Visit to Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/IR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a state visit to Saudi Arabia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>List of Outcomes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Strategic Partnership Council: <\/strong>The second leaders meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) was co-chaired by the leaders.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ministerial Committee on Defence Cooperation under the SPC: <\/strong>To reflect the deepening of defence partnership over the past few years, the Council decided to create a new Ministerial Committee on Defence Cooperation under the SPC.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A new Ministerial Committee on Tourism and Cultural Cooperation:<\/strong> To strengthen cultural and people-to-people ties, the Council decided to create a new Ministerial Committee on Tourism and Cultural Cooperation under the SPC.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The four committees under the India-Saudi Arabia SPC shall now be as follows:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Political, Consular and Security Cooperation Committee.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Defence Cooperation Committee.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Economy, Energy, Investment and Technology Committee.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tourism and Cultural Cooperation Committee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>High Level Task Force on Investment (HLTF):<\/strong> Building on the commitment of Saudi Arabia to invest USD 100 billion in India in multiple areas, the joint HLTF agreed to collaborate on establishing two refineries in India.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>List of MoUs\/Agreements: <\/strong>MoU between the Saudi Space Agency and the Department of Space of India on Cooperation in the field of Space Activities for Peaceful Purposes.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>MoU between the Ministry of Health on Cooperation in the field of Health.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Brief on India and Saudi Arabia Relations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Political Relations: <\/strong>The two countries established diplomatic relations in <strong>1947.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The royal visit of 2006 resulted in the signing of the <strong>Delhi Declaration,<\/strong> which was followed in 2010 by the <strong>Riyadh Declaration<\/strong> that elevated bilateral ties to a<strong> strategic partnership.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) Agreement<\/strong> was signed during the <strong>2019<\/strong> visit of the Indian PM to Riyadh, which established a high-level council to steer the Indo-Saudi relationship.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Economic Relations:<\/strong> India is Saudi Arabia\u2019s second-largest trade partner; Saudi Arabia is India\u2019s fourth-largest trade partner.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In FY 2023-24, bilateral trade stood at USD 42.98 billion, with Indian exports at USD 11.56 billion and imports at USD 31.42 billion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Energy Cooperation:<\/strong> Saudi Arabia remained India\u2019s third largest Crude and Petroleum products sourcing destination for FY 2023-24.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India imported 33.35 MMT of crude oil in FY 2023-24 from Saudi Arabia, accounting for 14.3% of India&#8217;s total crude oil imports.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In FY 2023-24, Saudi Arabia was the 3rd largest LPG sourcing destination for India, accounting for 18.2% of the total LPG imports of India for 2023-24.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indian diaspora:<\/strong> As of 2024, there were <strong>2.7 million<\/strong> Indians in Saudi Arabia. This is the second largest number of foreign workers in the country, after Bangladesh.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Indian workers in Saudi Arabia send back significant remittances, contributing to India\u2019s foreign exchange reserves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Regional Stability:<\/strong> Saudi Arabia plays a key role in Middle East politics. Stable and friendly ties with Saudi Arabia help India navigate the broader West Asian region diplomatically.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Defence Cooperation: <\/strong>India and Saudi Arabia are focusing on strengthening defence ties to achieve self-reliance and mutual growth in defence manufacturing.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Under Vision 2030,<\/strong> Saudi Arabia is aiming to transition from a defence consumer to a defence producer, with a target to localise 50% of its spending.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Saudi Arabia signed a $250 mn contract<\/strong> for ammunition from Munitions India Limited, a Defence Public Sector Undertaking.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Saudi Arabia has procured the <strong>155mm Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS)<\/strong> from Bharat Forge.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Joint exercises:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sada Tanseeq:<\/strong> The inaugural Army exercise held in 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Al Mohed Al Hindi:<\/strong> Bilateral naval exercise initiated in 2022.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The shared aspiration to reduce dependence on defence imports and boost local production presents significant opportunities for both nations.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Joint ventures and collaboration in <strong>cutting-edge technologies such as AI and cybersecurity<\/strong> can enhance strategic autonomy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>By aligning their goals under <strong>Vision 2030 and Make in India, India<\/strong> and Saudi Arabia can emerge as pivotal partners in shaping the global defence landscape.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/following-pahalgam-attack-modi-cuts-short-saudi-arabia-visit\/article69479928.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a state visit to Saudi Arabia.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>List of Outcomes<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Strategic Partnership Council: The second leaders meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) was co-chaired by the leaders.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Ministerial Committee on Defence Cooperation under the SPC: To reflect the deepening of defence partnership over the past few years, the Council decided to create a new Ministerial Committee on Defence Cooperation under the SPC.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-04-2025\/pm-state-visit-to-saudi-arabia\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41826"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41855,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41826\/revisions\/41855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}