{"id":32513,"date":"2019-02-19T16:39:47","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T16:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=32513"},"modified":"2019-02-19T16:39:47","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T16:39:47","slug":"saudi-crown-prince-in-india-as-trade-investment-top-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=32513","title":{"rendered":"Saudi crown prince in India as ‘trade, investment’ top agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman<\/a>, looking to boost ties with Asian allies, has arrived in\u00a0India<\/a>\u00a0for a two-day visit amid rising expectations of further investment deals following a high-profile trip\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span>Pakistan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Saudi crown prince, also known as MBS, was welcomed at the New Delhi airport by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi<\/a>, who embraced him in a characteristic bear hug.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Prince Mohammed is likely to hold talks with Modi,\u00a0who is a recipient of Saudi Arabia’s highest civilian honour, the King Abdulaziz Sash.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Trade and investment, defence and security, including counterterrorism, and renewable energy” will be discussed during the crown prince’s meeting with Modi, India’s foreign ministry said<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

#WATCH<\/a> Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman upon his arrival in India. pic.twitter.com\/huwzGrPhFG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2019<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The two sides are also expected to discuss oil giant Saudi Aramco’s investment in refineries in India, including the company’s stalled project to build a $44bn facility on the western coast of India. <\/span><\/p>\n

On Monday, Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra state, announced that the India-Saudi project would be moved to a new location following\u00a0demonstrations by farmers protesting against land acquisition.\u00a0<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Energy supplies<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

India’s ties to Saudi Arabia have grown significantly over the past two decades. Home to more than 2.7 million Indian expatriates,<\/span>\u00a0t <\/span> he kingdom is India’s fourth-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade worth $28bn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Riyadh is also the top source of India’s energy supplies, supplying 20 percent of its crude.<\/p>\n

“India, as a massive consumer of oil, and Saudi Arabia, as a major producer is an obvious synergy,”\u00a0Manoj Joshi, at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think-tank, told Al Jazeera.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

“Indian corporates [organisations], skilled personnel and managers are already playing a big role in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis, in turn, hope to play a role in India’s growth by becoming investors in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund soon. Investment in non-oil sectors in India is also part of Saudi economic strategy,” he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

In November, the powerful crown prince and heir to the throne announced he was on the verge of finalising an initial investment in India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, a quasi-sovereign wealth fund, to help accelerate the building of ports, highways and other projects in India.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pakistan ties<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia has also long been a source of financial aid for India’s nuclear-armed rival, Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Tensions between neighbours India and Pakistan have flared since last week in the aftermath of an attack that killed\u00a0at least 42 Indian paramilitary police<\/a> in India-administered Kashmir.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, during MBS’s visit to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia\u00a0signed\u00a0investment agreements<\/a> with the South Asian nation worth $20bn.<\/p>\n

“The texture of Saudi Arabia’s relationship with Pakistan is different,” Joshi said. “Islamabad looks up to Saudi Arabia as a co-religionist and indeed, leader of the Islamic world. The Indian relationship is based on a practical partnership of two sovereign states.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MBS’s Asia trip includes a visit to China<\/a>, which is his last stop, where he is expected to announce deepening cooperation on Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative, a modern-day revival of the ancient Silk Road.<\/p>\n

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#Saudi<\/a> crown prince #BinSalman<\/a> #MBS<\/a> no welcome in #India<\/a>
Protest of thousands of people against his Visit.
He is sponsor of #Wahhabi<\/a> Terrorism @MEAIndia<\/a>@HMOIndia<\/a> @PMOIndia<\/a> #IndiaRejectsMBS<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/hLjwLmVadY<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 MSO OF INDIA (@msoofindia) February 18, 2019<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Saudi leader has been battling a major political crisis after the killing of journalist\u00a0Jamal Khashoggi<\/a>\u00a0in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October.<\/p>\n

Joshi said the India trip would “help a little bit” in the attempts to refurbish the international image of the Saudi rulers.<\/p>\n

On Monday, hundreds of people had protested in New Delhi against the Saudi military onslaught in\u00a0Yemen<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Khashoggi’s\u00a0killing.<\/p>\n

“Saudi Arabia is guilty of war crimes in Yemen. Civilians and children have died because of the war criminal Mohammed bin Salman<\/span> <\/span> . The Indian government should not give him a red-carpet welcome,” Shujaat Ali Quadri, organiser of the protests in New Delhi and spokesman of All India Tanzeem Ulema e-Islam, told Al Jazeera.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, looking to boost ties with Asian allies, has arrived in\u00a0India\u00a0for a two-day visit amid rising expectations of further investment deals following a high-profile trip\u00a0to\u00a0Pakistan. The Saudi crown prince, also known as MBS, was welcomed at the New Delhi airport by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who embraced him…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":32514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}