PM, Saudi Crown Prince To Hold Talks At India-Saudi Strategic Meet Today

Saudi Arabian Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House today.

Notably, the Saudi Crown Prince arrived in Delhi on a three-day visit and stayed back after the G20 Summit for his state visit.

"During this visit, he will attend the G20 Summit being hosted in India on September 9-10, 2023 and will continue his stay in India on September 11, 2023 for the State visit," the Ministry of External Affairs had said earlier.

Prior to his meeting with PM Modi, the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince will receive a ceremonial reception at Rastrapati Bhawan in New Delhi at 10 am.

Following his meeting with Prime Minister Modi at Hyderabad House, the Saudi Crown Prince is expected to sign the minutes of the first meeting of the India-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council at the same venue around 12 noon.

After concluding all these, the Saudi Arabian PM will meet President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhawan around 6:30 p.m.

Salman will depart from New Delhi around 8.30 pm.

His Royal Highness earlier visited India on a State Visit in February 2019, and this will be his second State Visit to India.

Salman arrived at Delhi's Palam airbase on Friday to participate in the 18th G20 Leaders' Summit.

Earlier on Saturday, India, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the European Union announced a historic agreement to launch a mega India-Middle East-Europe shipping and railway connectivity corridor.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement for the ambitious project on the sidelines of the G20 Summit and was flanked by US President US Biden, Saudi Arabia Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman and leaders of the EU.

This is a historic and first-of-its-kind initiative on cooperation on connectivity and infrastructure involving India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, EU, France, Italy, Germany and the US.

Speaking at the Bharat Mandapam venue of the G20 Summit here, PM Modi said the mega-deal will give a sustainable direction to connectivity and sustainability across the world. He also congratulated all the leaders who were part of the connectivity corridor.

Speaking at the same forum, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammed Bin Salman said, "... We look forward to the integration of the initiative and the Economic Corridor project which is announced in this meeting. I would like to thank those who worked with us to reach this founding step to establish this important economic corridor..."

Moreover, Saudi Arabia hosted a three-day event in conjunction with the G20 Leader's Summit to provide an immersive and interactive experience of the Kingdom's leading projects in various fields. The event titled ‘Media Oasis' was organized on September 9 and will conclude on September 11 in New Delhi.

The event aims to provide an immersive and interactive experience of Saudi Arabia's leading projects in the sectors of tourism, entertainment, technology, culture and sports. The overarching theme of the exhibit is ‘Vision 2030', an initiative by Saudi Arabia aimed towards the diversification of the country economically, socially, and culturally.

The event has been organised by the Saudi Ministry of Media. It showcases the initiatives being taken by the Saudi Ministry of Culture, Invest Saudi, Saudi Ministry of Sports, Saudi Ministry of Energy, Red Sea Global, SDAIA, FII Institute, Royal Institute of Traditional Arts Konoz, and CGC.

Moreover, India and Saudi Arabia enjoy cordial and friendly relations reflecting the centuries-old economic and socio-cultural ties. The establishment of diplomatic relations in 1947 was followed by high-level visits from both sides.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia is India's fourth-largest trading partner. More than 18 per cent of India's crude oil imports are sourced from Saudi Arabia.

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