Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to arrive in New Delhi today

The Crown Prince who is also the Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral talks with the Crown Prince tomorrow on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. Several agreements are expected to be signed after the talks. The Crown Prince will call on President Ram Nath Kovind.

The visit follows the highly successful visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia in April 2016, during which the two countries agreed to further elevate existing



strategic partnership.

India and Saudi Arabia have historically enjoyed close and friendly relations anchored in mutually beneficial partnership and extensive people to people contacts.

In recent years, there has been significant progress in bilateral cooperation in key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, trade and investment,infrastructure, defence and security.

The bilateral trade was 27.48 billion dollars during the last financial year 2017-18,making Saudi Arabia India’s 4th largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia contributes significantly to India’s energy security needs by supplying about20 per cent of crude requirements to India.