Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and PM Modi co-chaired the first summit-level meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC). Saudi Crown Prince is on a daylong State Visit to India post the G20 Summit.
India, Saudi Arabia Set To Expand Defence Partnership
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud discussed expanding bilateral trade and defence ties and described the partnership as important for peace and stability of the region.The leaders also co-chaired the first meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC).
The India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council was set up in 2019, making India the fourth country with which Riyadh formed such a partnership, after the UK, France, and China.
PM Modi had then said that the SPC would “begin a new era of cooperation across sectors. Our ties across various dimensions such as trade, investment, security and defence cooperation are robust and deep, and will only strengthen further.”
According to the MEA, the SPC has two main pillars: Committee on Political, Security, Social and Cultural Cooperation; and Committee on Economy and Investments.
“We have ongoing defence cooperation, which is going on very well. We already had two rounds of the joint naval exercises. We are now exploring the possibility of taking these joint exercises to other domains other than the naval,” Ausaf Sayeed, a secretary in the Indian Foreign Ministry.
•The Saudi side has an inbuilt local manufacturing focus in its Vision 2030 and Indian companies have evinced interest in showing their capabilities, Sayeed noted.
•Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 aims to achieve the goal of increased diversification economically, socially and culturally.
India and Saudi Arabia decided to expedite implementation of the $50-billion West Coast refinery project, and identified energy, defence, semiconductor and space as areas for intensified cooperation.
India and Saudi Arabia sign Agreement on Cooperation in Energy Sector
India and Saudi Arabia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of energy. The MoU between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was signed in New Delhi on 10th September, 2023, by Union Minister for New & Renewable Energy and Power, Government of India, Shri R. K. Singh for the Indian side and Minister of Energy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Royal Highness Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud for the Saudi side.
According to the MoU, India and Saudi Arabia will cooperate in the following areas:
- Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Hydrogen, Electricity and Grid Interconnection between the two countries, Petroleum, Natural Gas, Strategic Petroleum Reserves and Energy Security.
- Encouraging bilateral investment in the field of Renewable Energy, Electricity, Hydrogen and Storage; and Oil & Gas.
- Circular Economy and its technologies to reduce the effects of climate change, such as: carbon capture, utilization and storage.
- Promoting digital transformation, innovation and cyber-security and artificial intelligence in the field of Energy.
- Working on developing qualitative partnerships between the two countries to localize materials, products and services related to all sectors of energy, supply chains and its technologies.
- Strengthening the cooperation with companies specialized in the field of energy.
- Any other fields related to the energy field that the two countries agree upon.
