Saudi foreign minister to travel to India to hold talks on Afghanistan

RIYADH: Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, will travel this weekend to New Delhi, where talks will mostly focus on the evolving situation in Afghanistan and bilateral relations. Prince Faisal, during his maiden visit to India, will meet with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and, also Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A reliable diplomatic source confirmed the visit of Prince Faisal to India here Thursday. The talks of Prince Faisal with top Indian officials have added significance after Prime Minister Modi has had consultations on the Afghan situation with UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on September 3. Jaishankar hosted Dr. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic advisor to the UAE president, on August 30 and exchanged views on the Kabul crisis.

“The talks with Saudi officials is part of India’s efforts to enhance coordination with close allies in the Arab and Islamic world on Afghanistan,” said a report published in a section of local press here. Several countries in the Middle East are worried over the security ramifications after the return of Taleban to Kabul and the way they have started governing the country. India is also watching the situation, while Qatar, Pakistan, and Turkey are already engaging with the Taliban-led government.

Political analysts believe that the Taliban-led government in Kabul has delivered a strategic victory to Pakistan, establishing a friendly government in Afghanistan for the first time during the last two decades. Many countries, including Saudi Arabia is yet to spell out their positions on the new Taliban government. To this end, it is important to note that the Kingdom was one of the three countries in the world, which officially recognized the Taliban when they first governed Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.

The situation changed dramatically for Saudi Arabia and the UAE after Al-Qaeda carried out suicide attacks in the US on September 11, 2001. The change was necessitated especially because Saudi Arabia had a diplomatic relationship with America since 1940. Americans were also Riyadh’s strongest allies in trade, investment, defense, and security. The Kingdom is also of the opinion that the closer ties to India will help balance the regional geopolitics.

On the other hand, India values a good relationship with Saudi Arabia, which helps to counter a hostile China-Pakistan axis gaining strategic depth. India and Saudi Arabia share centuries-old economic and socio-cultural ties. The landmark visits of Prime Minister Modi to the Kingdom in 2016 and 2019 and the State visit of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to India in February 2019 has marked a new era in bilateral relations, which resulted in the setting up of the Strategic Partnership Council (SPC), co-chaired by the two leaders.

Besides that, the Kingdom and India have signed 11 MoUs in the fields of energy, security, combating trafficking of narcotic drugs, defense production, civil aviation, medical products, strategic petroleum reserves, small and medium scale industries, the launch of Rupay card, cooperation in training of diplomats, cooperation between stock exchanges, etc. There have been a number of ministerial visits from both sides on a regular basis. Saudi Arabia is also India’s fourth-largest trade partner (after China, the USA, and the UAE) and a major source of energy as India imports around 18 percent of its crude oil requirement and 30 percent of its LPG requirement from the Kingdom. In the financial year 2019-20, bilateral trade was valued at $33.09 billion. During this period, India’s imports from Saudi Arabia reached $26.84 billion, and exports to Saudi Arabia were worth $ 6.25 billion, registering an increase.

—INDIA NEWS STREAM