PM Modi to visit Saudi for Future Investment Initiative

On October 29, 2019, the Prime Minister Modi is to attend the third session of Future Investment Initiative Forum in Saudi Arabia. The PM will deliver a keynote address at the forum. He will also meet the Saudi king Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. He will hold delegation level talks with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman

Highlights

• During his visit, India and Saudi Arabia will sign a raft of key pacts to ramp up ties in several key sectors. It includes renewable energy, civil aviation and oil and gas.
• An India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council will be launched
• Also, an MoU will be signed to roll out RuPay card, India’s digital payment system and also a smart card to bring coordination between e-migration systems of the two countries
• The countries will also deliberate on enhancing defence and security cooperation during the 2-day visit of the PM. On the side lines of the agreement, a naval exercise between the two nations will be conducted by the end of this year.

Significance

• Saudi Arabi is a key pillar of India’s energy security. Around 17% of crude oil and 32% of LPG requirements of India are imported from Saudi Arabia
• The trade between the countries amount to 27.48 billion USD (2017-18). The Indian exports to the country stood at 22.06 billion USD while the imports were 5.41 billion USD.
• Recently the Saudi crown prince visited India in February 2019. Following his visit, Saudi Arabia agreed to release 200 Indian prisoners and also agreed to increase the number of pilgrims performing Hajj to 200,000 per year.

Future Investment Initiative (FII)

FII is an annual investment forum organized by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. It was begun in 2017. The first event announced the launch of NEOM, a 500 billion USD economic zone in north west of Saudi Arabia.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2019