Saudi's plans to invest $100 billion in India on track, Saudi Ambassador confirms

New Delhi: Saudi Ambassador to India, Dr Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Sati, expressed confidence that the Indian economy will be back too normal soon and the Saudi plan to invest nearly $100 billion, in India, will also be fulfilled. Ambassador Al Sati also clarified that India is a strategic partner and one of the closest allies of Saudi Arabia. Pakistan has become restless, following the visit of the Indian Chief of Army Staff, General MM Naravane, to Saudi Arabia. The analysts from Pakistan are warning that the Indian influence in countries like Saudi and United Arab Emirates is increasing and this will be detrimental to Pakistan’s interests in the future. But some balanced analysts, from that country, have inferred that given the size of the Indian economy and influence, no leading country in the world can deny Indian importance. The statement of the Saudi Ambassador to India only endorses these inferences.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Saudi Arabia in October 2019. During this visit, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman had announced an investment of nearly $100 million in India. These investments will be made in petrochemicals, oil refineries, infrastructure facilities, mining and manufacturing sector as well as agriculture and other sectors. The Indian economy will majorly benefit from this investment. But the Coronavirus pandemic had brought economic activities to a grinding halt in many countries. The effects were becoming apparent, even in the Indian economy. Even in this scenario, the Saudi Ambassador assured that the plan to invest in India stands.

The Saudi Ambassador expressed confidence that Indian economy will soon return to normalcy, as the Indian economy has the capacity. Al Sati also clarified that there are no changes to the Saudi plan of investment and the investments are still ‘On Track’. At the same time, Ambassador Al Sati clarified that India is a strategic partner and one of the closest allies of Saudi Arabia. Al Sati said that India and Saudi would cooperate on the fronts of defence-related training, information exchange and cooperation in counter-terrorism actions.

Although, there is no direct mention, the Al Sati statements are having a faint mention of the visit of the Indian Army Chief, MM Naravane, to Saudi Arabia. It is becoming clear that the decision to strengthen cooperation on the military level between India and Saudi was taken during the visit of the Indian Army Chief. Preparations have been made to form a commission to develop a strategic partnership between the two countries. Al Sati expressed confidence that this will open new doors of cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia. At the same time, Al Sati pointed out that the India-Saudi relations have scaled new heights during this decade. Recently, Saudi amended its laws governing labour. Al Sati also expressed confidence that this will go on further to strengthen the economic cooperation between India and Saudi. Al Sati is indicating that Saudi has a large population of Indian workers. Also, more Indian workers could get employment in Saudi.

Meanwhile, the increasing Indian cooperation with Saudi and United Arab Emirates goes to show that the Indian influence is increasing in the Gulf sector. Saudi and the other Gulf countries have started special efforts to reduce the oil dependence of their economies. Saudi and the Gulf countries have come to realise that the fifth largest economy in the world and the largest economy in the South Asian region, can assist them in a big way. Also, Saudi is the largest oil supplier to India. Therefore, Saudi seems to be taking rapid steps to strengthen its cooperation with India.