man I gave you this link a while ago ... beside politics I love how India and SA are coming together.
Yeah, months ago if my memory serves me right. That's why I mentioned you. Well, it is all business so that's good I guess.
India has its share of problems like any country but it is a huge market and not far from KSA. Ancient historical ties to. Lots of opportunities for mutual cooperation and most importantly let us not forget that there are about 2.8 million Indians living in KSA. There should not be any problems of KSA having close ties to both Pakistan and India. We are essentially not part of that territorial dispute although we will side with Pakistan if it ever came to an conflict although one can never know.
Leaders keen to boost historic partnership
SOLID BONDS: King Abdullah receives Indian Premier Manmohan Singh.
RIYADH: GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN
Published — Sunday 26 January 2014
Last update 25 January 2014 11:32 pm
India’s engagement with the Arabian peninsula dates back to several millenniums when traders, scholars and sailors from South Asia used to sail across the Arabian Sea, in boats made of India’s Malabar wood.
They also served as major links between West Asia and the Mediterranean on one hand and the Indian coast on the other, symbolizing a closer relationship with a strong urge for discovering the two great lands — the Arabian peninsula and the Indian subcontinent.
The relationship with the peninsula, especially with the Kingdom, got reinforced and strengthened over a period of time with robust exchanges and strong partnerships in several domains, which stood the test of time during the last several decades. In fact, the Kingdom and India set out a vision of relationship much before they established their diplomatic relations way back in 1947.
Over the years, business relations, scholastic interaction, cultural exchanges and religious ties were established between the Kingdom and India, which remain vibrant even today as reflected in the huge presence of the Indian diaspora in the Gulf countries, and especially in Saudi Arabia.
In fact, the four-day official Indian visit of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, in January 2006 gave a new impetus to the Saudi-India relationship.
India honored King Abdullah to be the chief guest on the Republic Day parade, a mark of respect bestows by India on closer friendly nations only. At that time, the wide-ranging meetings of King Abdullah with high-ranking Indian officials, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, gave a new dimension to the bilateral relations.
And then, the reciprocal visit of Indian premier to Riyadh in 2010 brought the two countries on the climax of cordial relationship, which is rarely seen between the two nations in the modern world. The shared sense of mutual respect and admiration for the role played by the leadership of the two countries in building partnerships and in shaping the region since the beginning of 20th century brought the two countries at the same plain.
Subhash Kapila, an Indian analyst, rightly remarked after the visit: “The shared strategic vision of the Delhi Declaration-2006 has been progressively carried forward in the Riyadh Declaration-2010.” At the conclusion of the three-day historic tour of Saudi Arabia, the Indian premier said that: “We have agreed to upgrade the quality of our relationship to that of a strategic partnership and that this partnership will cover economic issues, trade and investment.”
In fact, the age-old cordiality in ties between the two nations is also evident from the fact that the people of India admired the unification efforts of late King Abdulaziz Al-Saud and formation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Not only this, the Indian government supported the endeavors undertaken by the leadership of Saudi Arabia to improve the Haj management, which has made the pilgrimage for the Muslims from across the world a safe and comfortable experience.
The leadership of the two countries has displayed a strong commitment to further the historical bonds of friendship. The visit of late King Saud to India in 1955 marked the beginning of high-level bilateral engagement, which was followed a year later by the visit of the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to the Kingdom. Later, the then Crown Prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz visited India in 1959 and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited the Kingdom in 1982.
This high-level exchange of visits indicate that there was a common urge to boost the ties, but it got a new momentum during the last three decades, and even more after the visit of King Abdullah to India. Spelling out the main components of the strategic relations between Riyadh and New Delhi, Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao said that the Indo-Saudi relationship has been on an “upswing trajectory under the visionary leadership of our two countries.”
“The Delhi Declaration signed during the visit of King Abdullah took our relations to a new higher level and provided a road map for cooperation,” he added. The Riyadh Declaration signed during the visit of Singh in 2010 reaffirmed the commitment of the two countries for joint cooperation and elevated the bilateral relations to the level of Strategic Partnership with added focus on political, economic, defense and security areas.
The two countries have witnessed steady exchange of high-level visits in the recent times also, including the first-ever visit of Indian defense minister to Riyadh in February 2012 and that of external affairs minister to Jeddah in May 2013.
These visits signify the importance of Saudi Arabia, which is part of India’s extended neighborhood. “Our geographical proximity, shared interest in the stability and security of our region and complementarities of interests in economy makes India and Saudi Arabia natural partners,” said Rao.
“I am happy with the current state of our political relations and remain highly optimistic about its future prospects,” said the envoy, adding that Saudi Arabia and India enjoy strong economic and commercial relations based on inherent complementarities of our economies.
Saudi Arabia is India’s 4th largest trading partner.
The bilateral trade witnessed 18 percent increase in 2012-2013, exceeding $43 billion.
Saudi Arabia also figures prominently in India’s energy security and supplies more than 19 percent of India’s crude oil requirements.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is the source of 8.01 percent of India’s global imports.
For Saudi Arabia as per data available, India is one of the largest market for its exports, accounting for 8.3 percent of its global exports. According to the state-owned Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), India is also a major investment partner. SAGIA has issued 426 licenses to Indian companies for ventures so far.
These licenses are for projects in diverse sectors such as management and consultancy services, construction projects, telecommunications, information technology, pharmaceuticals, etc. Today, Saudi Arabia and India enjoy excellent investment relations. Riyadh is also one of the largest suppliers of petroleum products to India. As India is determined to even further rationalize and simplify the foreign direct investment (FDI) procedure, Saudi Arabia is bound to look at India with interest.
Besides the recent policy initiatives like Invest India, e-biz, FDI reforms, the Indian government is also committed to provide “stability” and “predictability” in tax regulations. In an effort to gain stronger foothold in the Kingdom’s growing economy and to boost commercial ties with the region as a whole, India has also launched an organization called Saudi-India Business Network (SIBN) here.
The formation of the SIBN, as part of major commercial initiative of the Indian embassy, would provide India with a new platform for engagement with Saudi business gentry. The SIBN seeks to further promote trade and commerce, investment, business-to-business interactions and exchanges between India and Saudi Arabia. India and Saudi Arabia stand to gain much economically from the SIBN, which will be composed of a large number of Saudi and Indian businessmen, including industrialists and traders.
On commercial front, the two countries have already forged closer ties. Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth largest trading partner.
On the top of this, several Indian firms have collaboration with Saudi companies and are working in the Kingdom in diverse sectors like designing, consultancy, financial services, software development and construction. Several Saudi and Indian companies have also evinced keen interest to forge closer ties, and eventually endorse agreements for joint trade and investment in the two countries.
On the other hand, Riyadh and New Delhi have forged very strong ties in manpower sector. The Indian expatriate community in the Kingdom numbering over 2.8 million is the largest Indian passport holding community outside India in the world. They are engaged in the entire spectrum of Saudi economy and contribute to the development and progress of the Kingdom.
“We are thankful to the Saudi government for hosting them and paying special attention toward their welfare,” said Rao.
“I would also like to place on record our gratitude to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for announcing a grace period (amnesty for workers) for overstaying expatriates to correct their legal status and for adopting a humanitarian approach toward this issue,” said the diplomat.
More than 1.4 million Indian expatriates availed the concessions during the grace period.
A large number of them managed to travel to India after their documents were legalized.
It is important to note in this context that Minister of Labor Adel Fakeih visited India during the first week of January this year, and also signed a landmark agreement on Labor Cooperation for Domestic Service Workers Recruitment.
On cultural front, several initiatives have been taken by India and Saudi Arabia to forge closer cultural links.
A cultural troupe from ICCR comprising a shehnai and a qawwali group, performed in Jeddah and Riyadh from Jan. 25-29, 2012, coinciding with the Republic Day celebrations.
A 45-member Saudi youth delegation visited India in March 2012, to strengthen the cooperation in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector and to step-up efforts to promote understanding and friendship among the youth of the two countries.
The Haj pilgrimage is another important component of bilateral relations.
During Haj 2013, as many as 135,938 Indians visited the Kingdom to perform Haj.
In 2012, more than 200,000 Indians performed Umrah.
On strategic ties, Riyadh and New Delhi have come closer in recent years.
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states had a special focus in India’s foreign policy with New Delhi emerging as a strong strategic partner in the stability, security and economic well-being of the Gulf countries.
In fact, India has a stake in issues relating to peace and stability in the wider Gulf region, including Iran and Iraq. Indian presence in the Gulf region is age old, which has developed into a vibrant relationship over the years, primarily due to abundance of entrepreneurial skill and wealth. With the Gulf region witnessing spectacular economic growth and India emerging as a vibrant economic power and key player strategically and politically, economic trends are reinforcing mutual interdependence.
Regionally, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that includes Saudi Arabia and forms a regional bloc has tremendous significance for India as the Gulf constitutes the “immediate” neighborhood of India separated only by the Arabian Sea.
India, therefore, has a vital stake in the stability, security and economic wellbeing of the Gulf and vice versa.
No doubt, the Kingdom and the Gulf states have vast potential as India’s investment partner for the future. Moreover, on regional level, the Gulf-based non-resident Indians (NRIs) also are the largest contributor of foreign remittances to India.
They continue to remit record sums of money back home despite the rupee holding up its own against the US dollar and the Gulf countries’ dollar-pegged currencies.
According to the Word Bank’s latest Migration Development report, India remains the largest recipient country in the world, with an estimated remittance amount of $75 billion in 2013, up from almost $70 billion that NRIs remitted home last year.
Also, Saudi Arabia is among the major FDI investing countries in India. Investment is observed in diverse fields such as paper manufacture, chemicals, computer software, granite processing, industrial products, cement and metallurgical industries.
Indian firms also have evinced keen interest in Saudi market after new Saudi laws relaxed provisions to establish joint venture projects or wholly owned subsidiaries in the Kingdom.
India has also plans to further help and liberalize the investment laws. To give teeth to the plan, India is inviting Saudi investment in oil refining and fuel retailing and is exploring opportunities to invest in developing gas fields in the Kingdom.
Two Indian oil companies are in discussions with Saudi Aramco for possible investment in India.
It is also the Indian Government’s long-term vision to make the 21st century “the Asian century,” with New Delhi-Riyadh as its axis.
A beginning was made with India hosting the first-ever Asian conference on regional cooperation in oil economy, and Saudi Arabia due to host the next event.
Further, India’s willingness to invest up to $25 billion to acquire oil and gas fields overseas explain this vision and add more authenticity to the plan.
Some of the Indian state-owned oil firms have had stakes in several countries. They have plans to boost cooperation in oil and energy sector further with Gulf states and a few other countries across the globe.
The plan looks more feasible as the Indian economy grew impressively despite ‘economic slowdown’ the world over.
To realize that expectation, India has also revealed plans to buy up to one million tons of crude annually from Qatar and encourage higher imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
India started importing LNG from Qatar last year and plans to import 5 million tons this year, which could increase to 20 million tons by 2015.
This vision would make Qatar India’s most valued gas supplier, like Saudi Arabia is with crude oil.
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