Janadriyah: Sushma Swaraj inaugurates Saudi Arabia’s National Heritage Festival

King Salman bin Abdulaziz in presence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated 32nd edition of Saudi Arabia’s National Heritage Festival in Janadriyah village, Riyadh. This year India is guest of honor country.

Key Facts

Jenadriyah is cultural and heritage festival of Saudi Arabia. It is held annually at Jenadriyah village near Riyadh. It is organised every year by National Guard. It was held for first time in 1985. It draws more than one million visitors every year.
The festival normally falls during the month of February or March. The activities in festivals include camel race, horse race, sports, dance, arts, history, falconry, and traditional arts and crafts.
The India Pavilion at festival was based on the theme ‘Saudi ka dost Bharat’. It showcased traditional and modern aspects of India and its culture. Previous guests of honor countries were Turkey, Russia, France, Japan, South Korea, China, UAE and Germany.

India-Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth largest trade partner after China, US and UAE. It is major source of India’s energy security requirement as it accounts for almost one-fifth of India’s crude oil requirement. The volume of bilateral trade between both countries during 2016-17 was recorded at $25.079 billion. Saudi Arabia is home to more than 3 million Indian people.