Our investment plans in India are on their way, there is strength in Indian economy: Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, expressing confidence in the strength of the Indian economy, said on Sunday that its plans to invest in India remain on their way. The world’s largest mineral oil-exporting country also says that the Indian economy has the full strength and capacity to move ahead from the evil effects of Coronavirus infection.
It is to be noted that in February last year, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman raised a total of $100 billion (about 7,400 billion rupees) in India’s petrochemicals, oil refining, infrastructure, mining, manufacturing, agriculture and many other sectors. Investment plans were announced.
Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to India, Dr. Saud bin Mohammed Al Sati, in a special conversation with PTI said that “our investment plans in India are on their way. We are engaged in talks to decide investment priorities in many areas in both countries.” Sati praised India’s measures in reviving the economy from the epidemic crisis. He said that improving the economy of both countries will also help the economies of other countries of the region.
He said that India is the fifth-largest economy in the world and the largest economy in South Asia. It has full potential to recover from the effects of the current epidemic crisis. He made a direct reference to Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Narwane’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, saying that the formation of the Strategic Partnership Council in 2019 has opened up new avenues of cooperation in many areas, the seeds of both countries. It also includes the areas of defense, security and tourism.
General Narwane went there last week. This was the first visit of an Indian army chief to Saudi Arabia. The Strategic Partnership Council was formed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Riyadh in October last year. The Council reviews progress in strategic partnerships between the two sides. The Saudi Ambassador said that in this decade significant progress has been made in the relations between the two countries. Now the two allies have become strategic partners of each other. It is a partnership between two large economy countries.
Regarding the trading quotient, he referred to decisions by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) to invest around $1.3 billion in Reliance Retail and $1.5 billion in Reliance Jio Platforms. The oil company Saudi Aramco is also ready to invest in the petroleum sector in India. It wants to be a partner in the business of Reliance Industries. The ambassador said that Saudi Arabia is also looking for other investment opportunities in India. He referred to recent labor reforms in Saudi Arabia and said that this would help to further strengthen the economic relations between India and Saudi Arabia. He added that the new labor reforms would strengthen the genetic relationship between labor-employers there and would make Saudi Arabia a lucrative market for workers.
