Hyderabad – India and Saudi Arabia enjoy extremely cordial and traditional friendly relations, reflecting the centuries old economic and socio-cultural ties. The rising warmth in the Indo- Saudi relations in the recent past has opened up several newer vistas and is providing the necessary impetus to strengthen the business and economic relations between the two countries.
To reinforce Indo-Saudi Relationship in bilateral trade and political relations and to ensure continuation of the momentum, FICCI Telangana State Council had the privilege of hosting H.E. Dr. Saud Al-Sati, Ambassador, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in India, at an interactive session with captains of the Industry. The session focused on “Scope of Indo-Saudi Bilateral Trade in view of new Political Bonhomie” on Monday at Park Hyatt. This interaction will further strengthen the strong and age old bonding Telangana state always had with Saudi Arabia and will help the Industry in the state to explore newer opportunities of Business collaboration. Mr T Muralidharan, Chairman, FICCI Telangana State Council and several Industry Captains, were present on the occasion.
H.E. Dr. Saud Al-Sati said, Saudi Arabia and India have 70 glorious years of establishing relationship. The last decade has been significant in transforming the nature of our ties. We view India as our strategic partner in our mission 2030, as part of which we seek to create a vibrant economy, thriving society. Saudi Arabia want to be part of India’s march to becoming 5 trillion economy by 2025. Energy cooperation is the key pillar to our strategic partnership, we are now moving to a more dynamic relationship that will now involve Saudi investment in downstream oil and gas projects in India. The Saudi ARMACO and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company are joining hands to develop the West Coast refinery, the $44 bn, the mega refinery and petrochemical refinery will be the largest refinery in the world to be implemented in one phase and we are proud to be integral part of this. Saudi Aramco’s recent acquisition of 20% stake in the Reliance Industries Oil And Petro chemical also reflects the growing energy partnership between the two countries. While continuing to invest in oil and gas, we are also heavily investing in renewable energy, circular carbon to ensure efficient solutions. In February both the countries also identified 40 opportunities of joint collaboration and investment across various sectors. Our current bilateral trade is approximately $34 bn, will undoubtedly increase in the near future. In fact licenses were issued to 267 new foreign investors in the first quarter of 2019, 30 of them were Indian companies. There is huge untapped potential available in merchandise trade particularly no-oil trade and we are enhancing in technological, economic and cultural fields. The strategic partnership that has been set up will have two mechanisms, one under the foreign ministers of the two countries to oversee political and security cooperation and the other under the Commerce ministry to aid trade and energy partnerships. Going ahead we shall witness many more milestones being achieved. Our friendship also reflects people to people ties, last year a record number of pilgrims went to Haj, there are also plans to increase two ways tourism. Also 3 mn Indians work and live in Saudi, the largest expat community in the Kingdom. Also happy to announce that Saudi Arabia has created a residency scheme for qualified expats, to attract global entrepreneurs, innovators and investors from across the world to live and work in Saudi. This will enable expats to gain a range of additional privileges alongside their residency. This move enables foreign ownership facility in many sectors. This will also enable foreign companies to launch fully owned and manages companies in Saudi Arabia. The vision 2030 is a road map for sustainable development, this enable Saudi to build a thriving economy, a vibrant society and an ambitious nation.
Mr T Muralidharan said, the two countries have established a firm relationships in the recent past with the initiative of our Prime minister and Saudi Crown Prince and a great partnership is evolving between India and Saudi Arabia. More than 2 lakh Indians are employed in Saudi and their remittances has been a good source of Income. Today Saudi Arabia is an important stakeholder in India’s progress through investments, trade, energy, every single dimension we believe Saudi Arabia is an important country for us and in our growth story of $5 trillion which Indian economy is going to be very soon, we woild like to see an active trade between India and Saudi Arabia. Saudi has also been helping in resolving India Pakistan related issues, because Saudi can influence Pakistan significantly.
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