G20 Summit: Saudi Arabia in spotlight; buzz on Modi’s China plus option

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, September 9: Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnav received crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia who arrived in New Delhi today to head the Kingdom’s delegation participating in the G20 leaders’ summit. He is visiting India on an official visit, coinciding with G20 Summit.

Ahead of the visit of the crown prince, high level exchanges of senior officials of the two countries have taken place amid India’s thrust to deepen ties with Saudi Arabia. Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address at the India-ASEAN Summit this week offered a 12-point proposal, which included multimodal connectivity for the South East Asian nations with Europe via India and the West Asia.

While India also seeks to deepen ties with African nations, New Delhi is aiming for a strategic heft in Riyadh to push the connectivity bid to integrate the ASEAN nations with Europe to make a strong presence in the global supply chains. Buzz is growing strong in the diplomatic circle of an impending pact between India and Saudi Arabia for rail cum port connectivity, which may be signed at the earliest.

Saleh bin Eid Al-Husseini, Saudi Arabian Ambassador and also the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to India, had called on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to build on the agenda for the bilateral ties. Modi, incidentally, has a cordial ties with the leadership of Saudi Arabia, which is widely known to pull strings in the affairs of Pakistan. Saudi Arabia is known in the diplomatic circles to hold key to India’s back channel communications with Pakistan.

“Pleased to receive to Ambassador of Saudi Arabia Saleh Eid Alhusseini today. Look forward to the further development and progress of the India-Saudi Arabia relationship across all domains,” Jaishankar had said after meeting the Saudi ambassador.

The visiting delegation from National Defence College, New Delhi was received at the Royal Saudi Armed Forces HQ recently, as the two nations hold interaction and a detailed briefing on the organisation and ongoing restructuring process in the Saudi Armed Forces.

Union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal had also met Khalid Al Falih, Minister of Investment, Saudi Arabia, recently as part of the bid of the two nations to deepen ties. “Discussed ways to enhance collaboration across key sectors to further boost trade and investment ties between India and Saudi Arabia,” Goyal had stated in a post on X.