NEW DELHI – Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday mether Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir and discussed ways to enhancebilateral trade, energy, defence and security ties.
Ms. Swaraj arrived in Riyadh on February 6 on her maiden visit to SaudiArabia during which she will inaugurate the Janadriyah festival of the GulfKingdom, which is home to over three million Indians.
“EAM @SushmaSwaraj met Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Adel Jubeir & hadan engaging discussion on deepening our strategic relationship,” Ministryof External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
He said the discussions between the two leaders focused on enhancing tradeand investment, energy, defence and security, culture and people-to-peopleties.
The two leaders also discussed the regional and global situation, Mr. Kumarsaid.
Ms. Swaraj will also inaugurate the prestigious National Heritage andCulture Festival ‘Janadriyah’, at which India is the guest of honourcountry.
The festival, organised by the National Guard, exhibits Saudi Arabia’s richtapestry of culture and heritage.
Ms. Swaraj thanked the Saudi government for according the ‘Guest of Honour’status to India at the Janadriyah festival.
Last evening, Ms. Swaraj addressed Indian community members at a receptionin Riyadh and spoke in length about the growing relations between the twocountries, Mr. Kumar said.
Ms. Swaraj thanked the Indian community for the goodwill it has earned forthe country and lauded the Indian embassy for its promptness.
Saudi Arabia is home to more than 3 million Indian people and ties betweenthe two countries are on an upswing in the last few years especially afterthe landmark visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Gulf Kingdom inApril 2016.
Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth largest trade partner after China, the U.S.and the UAE. The country is a major source of India’s energy requirement asit accounts for almost one-fifth of India’s crude oil requirement.
The volume of bilateral trade during 2016-17 was recorded at $25.079billion, a slight decrease from the $26.71 billion in 2015-16. – PTI