Saudi Arabia and India vow to fight terror together
Crown prince expects investment worth more than $100bn in India
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Wednesday he expected investment opportunities worth more than $100 billion in India over the next two years as New Delhi rolled out the red carpet for the visiting royal.
In a joint press appearance after talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the crown prince said: “Extremism and terrorism are our common concerns. We would like to tell our friend India that we’ll cooperate on all fronts, be it intelligence sharing. We’ll work with everyone to ensure a brighter future for our upcoming generations.”
The two countries will start a security dialogue at the level of national security advisers and set up a working group on counterterrorism, said T.S. Thirumurthy, who handles economic relations at India’s Foreign Ministry.
Prime Minister Modi “welcomed the announcement of (the) crown prince to invest $100 billion in India in a range of areas like energy, refining, petrochemicals, infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, etc.,” Thirumurthy said, adding that Saudi Arabia’s focus was on expanding non-oil trade with India.
In a joint press statement, both countries agreed to cooperate in combating terrorism. “Last week, the attack on Pulwama reminds us of the danger terror attacks pose to humanity and we are unanimous in our decision that pressure should be applied to any country promoting terror,” said the statement.
It added: “We have agreed that terrorism should not be supported in any form, and we should put pressure on countries that back terror. To end terror infrastructure, ending support to terror groups and punishing them is es- sential, so that young people don’t take up arms.”
In an interaction with the media at the presidential palace earlier, the crown prince said: “The relationship between India and Saudi Arabia is in our DNA. Today, we want to be ensured that the relationship is maintained and improved for sake of both countries and with the leadership of Mr. President and the Prime Minister; we can create good things for both countries.”
He said: “I admire PM Modi. He is the elder brother and I am his younger brother.”
In another development, the crown prince announced an in- crease in Hajj quota for Indian pilgrims to 200,000 at the request of Prime Minister Modi and ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in Saudi jails, said the SPA.
Saudi Aramco said it was in talks with India’s Reliance Industries Ltd. for possible investments and was seeking other opportunities.
Its chief executive, Amin Nasser, said the economic power is shifting from West to East and that “India will be (the) second-largest economy ahead of the US, which is a big opportunity for us.” Addressing a Delhi investment conference, he said: “We are not limited to that investment (refinery), which is the mega refinery... we are looking at other opportunities.”