Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman on his arrival at Palam airport in New Delhi.
Mohammed Bin Salman India visit LIVE Updates: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud arrived in New Delhi for a two-day official visit on Tuesday evening. He was warmly received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport.
The Crown Prince is also the Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He is leading a high-level delegation, including Ministers, senior officials and businessmen.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral talks with the Crown Prince on Wednesday at the Hyderabad House. A wide range of issues of mutual interest will also come up when the two leaders meet. The two sides will also sign several agreements after the talks.
Salman’s visit comes in the backdrop of the escalating tension between India and Pakistan following Pulwama terror attack that was carried out by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad. PM Modi Modi also is likely to raise the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism with the Saudi Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince will hold delegation-level meetings with Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday to take forward the the existing strategic partnership between the two countries. He is accompanied by a high-level official delegation as well as a large business delegation.
The Crown Prince will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind later in the day. He will leave New Delhi around 11:50 PM on Wednesday.
During the two-day visit, India and Saudi Arabia are expected to announce a ministerial-level ‘Strategic Partnership Council’ with the issue of terrorism expected to figure in a major way during the talks in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke protocol to personally receive Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is on his first state visit to India, at the Palam airport in Dellhi. Prince Mohammed came to India a day after his visit to Pakistan. He was received by Modi with a warm hug. The Crown Prince had flown back to Saudi Arabia from Pakistan before coming to India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to raise the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudi Crown Prince’s visit comes in the backdrop of the escalating tension between India and Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad. The Crown Prince will leave New Delhi around 11:50 PM on Wednesday.
India’s bilateral trade with Saudi Arabia was USD 27.48 billion in 2017-18. Saudi Arabia is also a key pillar of India’s energy security, being a source of 17 per cent or more of crude oil and 32 per cent of LPG requirements of India. Recently, Saudi ARAMCO in partnership with ADNOC of UAE has agreed to partner in Ratnagiri Refinery and Petro-Chemical project Ltd which is a joint venture of USD 44 billion. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally received Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the airport in New Delhi. Mohammed Bin Salman is on his first bilateral visit to India!
Breaking protocol, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally received Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud on his first bilateral visit to India!
Visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman upon the Saudi Crown Prince’s arrival in India.
#WATCH Delhi: Visuals of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman upon the Saudi Crown Prince’s arrival in India. pic.twitter.com/WXXcnH8jyC
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman upon his arrival in India. Mohammed Bin Salman is on a two-day visit to India.
Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman lands in New Delhi for a two-day visit. Minister of State MEA General VK Singh is present at the airport to receive Saudi Arabia Crown Prince.
Secretary, Economic Affairs in the External Affairs Ministry T S Tirumurti said informed that India has been identified as one of the eight strategic partners with whom Saudi Arabia intends to deepen partnership in areas of political, security, trade and investment and culture. “As part of this engagement, we are finalizing the setting up of ‘Strategic Partnership Council’ between the two countries at ministerial level. We are confident that this will give greater thrust to our strategic partnership and take forward our discussions in a focussed and action-oriented manner,” PTI quoted Tirumurti as saying.
India and Saudi are expected to sign five agreements in areas of investment, tourism, housing and information and broadcasting. Informing about the visit, Secretary, Economic Affairs in the External Affairs Ministry T S Tirumurti said: “We are confident that this visit will open a new chapter in India-Saudi bilateral relationship.”
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel asked prime minister Modi to convey the nation’s sentiments to the Saudi Arabian delegation. He said: “As Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman arrives in Delhi, his decision to reward Pakistan by giving them a $20 billion package,96 hours after our jawans were martyred is most unfortunate I expect the Prime Minister to convey the nation’s sentiments to the Saudi Arabian delegation.”
Riyadh Declaration’ was signed in 2010 during visit of the then PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. Then the level of interaction was raised to ‘Strategic Partnership’ in the political, economy, security and defence realms.
Among other things, the Delhi declaration of 2006 had also said: Exchanges of high-level bilateral visits and consultations should be intensified in order to give an impetus to and expand the scope of bilateral cooperation and understanding. Terrorism is a scourge for all mankind and there is a need to intensify and coordinate bilateral, regional and global cooperation to combat and eradicate the menace of terrorism.
In 1955, King Saud visited India and the PM Jawaharlal Nehru visited the Kingdom in 1956. PM Indira Gandhi visited Saudi Arabia in 1982. The historic visit of King Abdullah in 2006 resulted in signing of ‘Delhi Declaration’ imparting a fresh momentum to the bilateral relationship.
Cash-strapped Pakistan made ellaborate arrangements on Sunday received Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, whose maiden trip to Islamabad was delayed by a day for unknown reasons. In a break from protocol, the Pakistani premier, Imra Khan, personally drove the crown prince to PM House.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by PM Modi, has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Tourism and the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism.
The two countries held meeting of 4th Joint Defence Cooperation Committee last month in Riyadh during which both sides explored the possibility of elevating the defence engagement with joint production and joint exercises, particularly joint naval exercises.
The Crown Prince will be accompanied by a high-level official team as well as a large business delegation. PM Modi will host a lunch in honour of Salman at Hyderabad House on Wednesday. He will call on President Ram Nath Kovind and he will host a banquet in honour of the visiting dignitary.
India and Saudi Arabia are developing G20 economies and are moving and engaging for sustainable economic growth. Both have come closer in the past few years with a significant upsurge in high-level bilateral meetings.
Prime Minister Modi’s April 2016 visit and recently he met Crown Prince Salman on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina.
In February 2018, Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs, visited Riyadh to attend the Saudi National Heritage and Cultural Festival “Janadariya” in which the Guest of Honour country was India.
According to media reports, official sources said Saudi Arabia was no longer accepting Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir and cross border terrorism and that India will forcefully raise the issue of Pakistan’s support to terror groups during delegation-level talks between PM Modi and the Crown Prince on Wednesday, news agency PTI reported. The joint statement to be issued after talks between the two sides is likely to have strong reference about terrorism and ways to deal with it.
Ahead of his visit to India amidst fresh Indo-Pak tensions, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed that dialogue is the only way to ensure peace and stability in the region to resolve “outstanding issues” between India and Pakistan, according to a joint statement issued at the end his visit. The Saudi Crown Prince “praised openness and efforts of Prime Minister Imran Khan for dialogue with India and the opening of the Kartarpur crossing point for Sikh pilgrims, PTI quoted the joint statement as stating.
Saudi Arabia has influence over Pakistan and the Crown Prince during two-day visit inked at least seven MoUs and agreement to make investments of worth USD 20 billion. The Kingdom also provided USD 3 billion loan and another USD 3 billion oil facility on deferred payment during the past three months.
Ahead of the visit by the Crown Prince, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir on Monday said that Riyadh will try to “de-escalate” tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the deadly terror attack in Pulwama by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.
The Crown Prince who arrived in Islamabad on Sunday at the start of his tour of South Asia, returned to Saudi Arabia on Monday, official sources said. New Delhi had reservations over his coming to India from Pakistan.
During the 2016 visit Modi, an MoU on cooperation in exchange of intelligence related to money laundering and terrorism financing was signed. The Kingdom has shown a greater understanding of India’s terrorism-related concerns and also agreed to work with India in countering this global menace.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman on his arrival at Palam airport.Salman’s visit comes in the back of his trip to Pakistan where he was given a red-carpet welcome by PM Imran Khan. The maiden visit of Crown Prince follows the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Islamic country in April 2016. The two countries had agreed to further elevate existing strategic partnership. India and Saudi Arabia have historically enjoyed close and friendly relations anchored in mutually beneficial partnership and extensive people to people contacts. In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and investment, infrastructure, defence and security.
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