India, Saudi Arabia agree to set up joint task force to channelise $100 bn investment, major chunk for oil refinery

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman on Monday agreed on setting up a joint task force to help identify and channelise investments worth $100 billion in the West Coast refinery project in Maharashtra.

"Both sides extended their full support to the early implementation of the West Coast refinery projects... The two sides agreed to set up a joint task force to help in identifying and channelising the $100 billion investments promised by the Saudi side - half of which was for the refinery, and again to have monitoring committee to ensure that the progress in this refinery projects is done as per the plans laid out by both sides," said Secretary (CPV & OIA) Ausaf Sayeed in a media briefing.

The Crown Prince also congratulated India for a successful G20 Summit, while PM Modi also acknowledged Saudi Arabia's active participation in the group meetings. The two leaders specially expressed their happiness at the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor on Saturday.

"The two sides recognised this as one of the major outcomes of the G20. It is one of the biggest such plurilateral agreements connecting several countries. It is actually connecting our like-minded partner countries in different geographic zones which is extremely important - Asia, Middle East and Europe," Sayeed said while mentioning the need for close coordination among partner countries. PM Modi also congratulated Mohammed bin Salman on becoming a member of the BRICS group.

Trading in local currencies

"The two sides identified areas such as energy cooperation, defence, security, education, technology, transportation,



healthcare, tourism and culture. Both sides considered space and semiconductors as other areas of cooperation. They agreed to diversify the current status of hydrocarbon relations into a comprehensive energy partnership," said Sayeed.

The two sides also agreed to expedite the India GCC-FTA negotiations that "would act as a catalyst" for economic cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia. "They also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the FinTech field and also explore trading in the local currencies. The two leaders expressed their satisfaction at the volume of trade level both countries have reached," stated the Indian diplomat.

The Secretary said that the concept of trading in local currencies is at a "discussion stage" with proposals and concept notes being exchanged between the leaders. "The Saudi side is aware that we have worked out similar arrangements with other countries in the region. So, the discussions will be beginning or have already begun," he said.

Regarding the GCC-FTA negotiations, he said that there was a delay was that there was a change in the chief negotiators. "Now the two sides would go into those terms of reference and now that the GCC chief negotiator has also been appointed, I think the negotiations would be brought back on fast-track," he said.

A total of eight agreements have been signed in areas of energy, digitalisation and electronic manufacturing, anti-corruption and national archives. Other agreements including one on grid connectivity are currently in progress. PM Modi also mentioned critical areas of cooperation such as critical minerals, food security, startup bridge, education and filmmaking during his bilateral meeting with the Crown Prince.