• 9964432222
  • Mail Us
  • Appointment
  • Locate Us
  • Chat Now
  • Courses
  • Login
  • Register
Manifest IAS
JournalsOfIndia
Manifest Learning Academy
  • Home
  • SNIPPETSfor Prelims
  • ARTICLESfor Mains
  • BROWSEBY SOURCE
  • DOWNLOADS
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • SNIPPETSfor Prelims
  • ARTICLESfor Mains
  • BROWSEBY SOURCE
  • DOWNLOADS
No Result
View All Result
JournalsOfIndia
No Result
View All Result
Home Foreign Affairs

India-Saudi Arabia

November 7, 2019
in Foreign Affairs
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
277
VIEWS
Share on WhatsAppShare on TelegramShare on Facebook
image_pdfMake PDF

Source: The Hindu

Manifest pedagogy: West Asian Policy in the context of India has acquired a new vigour under the present government. It begins with the Riyadh declaration signed between the two under Manmohan Singh government. Historica linkages are a must to write a good answer in IR

In news: Prime minister Narendra Modi’s Saudi Arabia visit.

Placing it in syllabus: India-Saudi Arabia bilateral relations 

Dimensions:

  • Recent meet and agreements signed
  • Strategic partnership between the two countries
  • Conflicting issues

Content: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited Saudi Arabia for a high-profile Future Investment Initiative Summit, dubbed as “Davos in the desert,” an initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Recent meet and agreements signed:

12 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) on issues related to defence industries, security, air services, renewable energy, medicine products regulation, prevention of narcotics trafficking, Atal Innovation Mission, Haj related cooperation, RuPay card were signed.

ISPRL (Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited) signed an agreement with Saudi Aramco to lease part of the 2.5 million-tonne Padur storage in southern Karnataka state. 

Indian Oil Corp signed a preliminary deal with Saudi Arabia’s Al Jeri company for cooperation in the downstream sector, including setting up fuel stations in the kingdom.

Saudi Aramco has decided to invest $35 billion in India’s West Coast refinery project that is set to be constructed in Maharashtra’s Raigad district which will be the largest refinery of Asia.

Strategic partnership council: 

  • Both countries signed an agreement to form a Strategic Partnership council that will be led by the leaderships of both the countries to “help India address its expectations and aspirations.”
  • Saudi Arabia is the fourth country with whom India has an inter-governmental mechanism headed by the prime minister. The other three are Germany, Russia and Japan.

 

  • India is the fourth country with which Saudi Arabia has formed such a strategic partnership, after the UK, France and China.

 

Strategic partnership between the two countries:

Recent visit by PM Modi to Saudi Arabia has reinforced substantive shift happening in India’s approach to the Middle East policy. India and Saudi Arabia are moving from a purely buyer-seller relationship towards a closer strategic partnership.

India imports around 18 percent of its crude oil from the Saudi Arabia , making it the second-largest source of crude oil for India (1st being Iran). India’s bilateral trade with Saudi Arabia was at $27.48 billion in 2017-18, making Saudi Arabia its fourth largest trading partner.

During his maiden trip to New Delhi in February, 2019, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had said that, it would be investing $100 billion in India in areas of energy, refining, petrochemicals, infrastructure, agriculture, minerals and mining.

Saudi Arabia has promised to share more intelligence to boost counterterrorism cooperation with India, a powerful message considering the ongoing India-Pakistan confrontation.

India is also showing signs of overcoming its reluctance to forge security partnerships with the Gulf states whose security apparatuses had long been closely associated with Pakistan. 

Regarding India’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan’s desperate attempt to internationalise the issue, Saudi Arabia has taken a positive approach vis-a-vis India and has cautioned Pakistan against escalating the crisis.  

Further, Saudi Arabia might find value in buying the Indian government’s stake in Bharat Petroleum, which is believed to be offloaded soon. According to reports, Saudi Aramco is already talking to Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for buying 20 per cent stake in refinery and petrochemical business of RIL. 

Fluctuating oil prices along with competitiveness of alternative energy sources compels Saudi Arabia to push reform measures and diversify its economy on the lines of “Vision 2030”. Rather than competing for resources both nations are willing to collaborate, explore comparative advantage, and co-create value for citizens.

Conflicting issues:

Saudi Arabia is a key ally of Pakistan. It supported Pakistan’s stance on the Kashmir conflict and during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, at the expense of its relations with India. The Soviet Union’s close relations with India also negatively affected Indo-Saudi relations. During the Persian Gulf War (1990–91), India officially maintained neutrality. 

But since the 1990s, both nations have taken steps to improve ties. Saudi Arabia has supported granting observer status to India in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and has expanded its collaboration with India to fight Islamic terrorism in the Middle East.

India’s Saudi policy, however, face many challenges, most importantly the regional instability, the Iran factor, low oil prices and the international dynamics. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been a frequent visitor to Saudi Arabia to seek Riyadh’s support on the Kashmir issue.

Hence a balanced approach is very much required to resolve any conflicts and maintain stability in relations, while respecting the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in each other’s internal matters.

image_pdfMake PDF
Tags: GS-2Mains

Related Posts

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues(UNFII)

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues(UNFII)

May 1, 2023
EU’s Digital Services Act

EU’s Digital Services Act

April 27, 2023
European Union approves carbon market scheme

European Union approves carbon market scheme

April 27, 2023
The Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA)

The Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA)

April 26, 2023
4th India-CARICOM ministerial meeting

4th India-CARICOM ministerial meeting

April 24, 2023
UN Women

UN Women

April 20, 2023
Global Buddhist Summit

Global Buddhist Summit

April 19, 2023
Germany shuts down its last three nuclear reactors

Germany shuts down its last three nuclear reactors

April 17, 2023
25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement

25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement

April 12, 2023
The language friendship bridge

The language friendship bridge

April 11, 2023
Please login to join discussion

Our Offline Classroom Student

CONGRATULATIONS TO 2021 TOPPERS !!!

Rank 171 Kumar Shivashish
Rank 250 Sahithya
Rank 263 Sumit Kumar Thakur
Rank 311 Deepak Ramachandra Shet
Rank 455 Ravinandan B M

July 2025
MTWTFSS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« May    

Browse by Category

  • Agriculture
  • Disaster Management
  • Economy
  • Environment
  • Ethics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Geography
  • Governance
  • History
  • Law & Policy
  • Opinion
  • People in News
  • Places in News
  • Science & Tech
  • Security
  • Society
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized

Browse by Tags

AIR All India Radio BBC Business Line Business Standard dow Down to Earth DownToEarth DTE Economic Times ET FAO Financial Express GS-1 GS-2 GS-3 GS-4 Hindustan Times IE India & the world Indian express Indiatoday India today Kurukshetra Livelihoods portal LiveMint Mains News Newspaper News Paper PIB Prelims PRS India RSTV Science Reporter Survey The Hindu The India Express The Indian Express The Print the wire Times of India TOI TOPPERS Yojana
JournalsOfIndia

Our vision is to orient the readers to grasp the facts objectively and analyse critically. In the rush of reaching first to the readers, the websites miss the balanced opinion, which is the need of the hour. We aim to reach the readers with more crispness, preciseness and relevance. We bring the articles in UPSC way for the civil services aspirants and the Wisest Way for general readers.

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Disaster Management
  • Economy
  • Environment
  • Ethics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Geography
  • Governance
  • History
  • Law & Policy
  • Opinion
  • People in News
  • Places in News
  • Science & Tech
  • Security
  • Society
  • Sports
  • Uncategorized

Browse by Tag

AIR All India Radio BBC Business Line Business Standard dow Down to Earth DownToEarth DTE Economic Times ET FAO Financial Express GS-1 GS-2 GS-3 GS-4 Hindustan Times IE India & the world Indian express Indiatoday India today Kurukshetra Livelihoods portal LiveMint Mains News Newspaper News Paper PIB Prelims PRS India RSTV Science Reporter Survey The Hindu The India Express The Indian Express The Print the wire Times of India TOI TOPPERS Yojana

Newsletter

The most important UPSC news and events of the day.

Get Journals daily newsletter on your inbox.

© 2020 JournalsOfIndia - A free initiative by Manifest Team.

  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Home
  • SNIPPETS
  • ARTICLES
  • BROWSE
  • DOWNLOADS
No Result
View All Result

© 2020 JournalsOfIndia - A free initiative by Manifest Team.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In