India, Saudi Arabia sign 47 MoUs to boost investments in Delhi
Total Views |
New Delhi, Sept 11: With an aim to bolster investments, as many as four dozen Memoranda of Understanding were signed between India and Saudi Arabia companies, ranging from Information Technology, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, and human resources, among other sectors.
These MoUs were signed between private companies of both countries, including Serum Institute of India, HP, VFS Global, and ICICI Bank. The signing of the MoUs was facilitated by Invest India and Saudi Arabia’s investment ministry.
His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and I had very productive talks. We reviewed our trade ties and are confident that the commercial linkages between our nations will grow even further in the times to come. The scope for cooperation in grid… pic.twitter.com/UalSTDmrTY
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 11, 2023
The signing of the agreements happened as Saudi Arabian Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud began his State visit after having participated in the G20 Summit in New Delhi. The Saudi Crown Prince arrived in Delhi on a three-day visit on Saturday and stayed back after the G20 Summit for his state visit.
In a brief statement, Prince Mohammed bin Salman congratulated India for a successful G20 presidency.
“Well done India, a lot of announcements made that will benefit both our countries, the G20 countries and the whole world. So I want to say to India well done, and we will work to create a future for both countries” he said.
What did Badr Al-Badr say?
Speaking at the India-Saudi Investment Forum in New Delhi, Badr Al-Badr, the deputy minister of investor outreach at the Saudi Ministry of Investment, said, “The Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia and Invest India have signed a bilateral agreement to strengthen mutual investment endeavors and have given the comfort zone to investors and traders to do more business.”
The deputy minister further revealed that both nations signed 47 memorandums of understanding, including agreements between private and public sector undertakings.
Al-Badr further urged Indian investors and businessmen to invest in the Kingdom.
#SaudiArabia, #India sign 47 MoUs to bolster investment landscape https://t.co/wkE6uCUQcf
— Arab News | Business (@ArabNewsBiz) September 11, 2023
“You know Saudi Arabia as a long-term global superpower in traditional energy. But you now know that we developed into something much more than that. Our dynamic transformations have been created under the framework of Vision 2030,” said the deputy minister.
He added: “Our Saudi companies are excellent potential partners for you because of their capabilities, capacities, scale, knowledge, financial strength and experience. You will discover that they are great business partners and solution providers.”
The deputy minister further said that trade ties between Saudi Arabia and India are growing at a robust rate, with the worth of Indian exports to Saudi Arabia hitting $10.7 billion in 2022, up 85 percent from $5.6 billion in 2018.
Saudi exports to India between 2018 and 2022 have grown by 114 percent. The deputy minister continued it reached $42 billion in 2022 compared to $26 billion in 2018. “This export growth was achieved during a period of pandemic, energy shocks, geopolitical upheavals, food security challenges, high inflation, environmental challenges and supply chain issues. Despite the challenges, the economy of Saudi Arabia has grown and diversified over the six and half years,” added Al-Badr.
The Indian delegation echoed the sentiment, stating that it felt the time was right to develop the bilateral relationship into an alliance of strength and economic power. “The time is right, and the time is now. Forever, we knew the strength and power of Saudi Arabia, and you knew what India stood for. So far, we were thinking with our minds, and now, we are thinking with our minds and hearts,” said Invest India CEO Nivruti Rai at the event.
Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India, said Saudi Arabia and India should explore investment opportunities further.“Several Saudi Arabian companies have already invested in the Indian solar energy sector, and we look forward to collaborating with you in new areas like hydrogen energy,” said Singh.
The event is taking place on the sidelines of the official state visit to India by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. The crown prince also led the Saudi delegation for the G20 leaders’ summit this weekend to seek solutions to the world’s shared challenges.
Apart from this, Saudi Arabia is part of the newly-floated India-US Economic Corridor that will prove to be a staunch rival to the likes of China-heralded Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The corridor is set to cover India-Middle East-Europe nations. This will enable a strong and economically motivated alliance to thrive between the member states.