Top Indian diplomat bids farewell

RIYADH: A veteran Indian diplomat, Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, who has been promoted as secretary for consular, passport, visa, and overseas Indian affairs at the Ministry of External Affairs, will leave Saudi Arabia later this month after completing more than three years of his diplomatic tour. India News Stream caught up with Dr. Sayeed amid dozens of farewell functions organized in his honor and asked him to share his experiences and fond memories about the Kingdom.
Dr. Sayeed, who was very popular among his Saudi friends as well as among the members of the Indian diaspora in Saudi Arabia during his tenure as ambassador, said that “it was a beautiful experience (being in the Kingdom), especially because I served in a country which I like most.” Dr. Sayeed’s duties have taken him earlier to the United States, Yemen, Egypt, Qatar, Denmark, and Seychelles. “It is very difficult to describe in words how much it has enriched my experience while working in Saudi Arabia,” said Dr. Sayeed.
The outgoing ambassador has added several feathers to his cap during his tenure in Saudi Arabia. He counted several highlights of his term while calling the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia to be at the top of the pitch. In fact, the visit of Modi to Riyadh in April 2016 captured the spirit of enhanced cooperation in the political, economic, security, and defense realms, he added. During the visit, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman conferred the Kingdom’s highest civilian honor on Prime Minister Modi, indicating the importance Saudi Arabia attaches to its relations with India.
Ambassador Dr. Sayeed, who has had the distinction to serve more than 10 years in the Gulf region in different capacities, said that the visit of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to India in February 2019 further took forward this momentum. During the visit, it was announced that the Kingdom would invest approximately $100 billion in India, and six MoUs and agreements were signed in the fields of investment, housing, tourism, exchange of audio-visual programs.
He pointed out that Prime Minister Modi revisited on October 28-29, 2019, during which an agreement to establish Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) was signed. The SPC, which will steer the Indo-Saudi relationship further, symbolizes the highest point in bilateral relations. In fact, Saudi Arabia has selected only eight countries for entering into strategic partnerships. These include India, China, the UK, the US, France, Germany, South Korea, and Japan.
Referring to the consistent contacts between the two countries, Dr. Sayeed said that the recent high-level political visits between India and Saudi Arabia are a sign of greater political attention and demonstration of the intent on both sides to shed their traditional approach, in which Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir were significant sticking points. Now the maiden visit to India by the Chief of Saudi Arabia Land Forces, Commander Lt. Gen. Fahd Bin Abdullah Mohammed Al Mutair, has recently pushed defense relations between the two countries further. The visit has been another highlight in India’s expanding strategic outreach to the Gulf, he added. Lt Gen Al Mutair’s visit comes on the heels of a visit to the Gulf in December 2020 by Chief of the Indian Army, General MM Naravane, which was followed by the first joint naval exercise between the two countries in August 2021.
The ambassador further remarked that the larger Indian community has earned a very good name for themselves in the Kingdom because of their “hard work and honesty.” While contributing positively to the development of the Saudi economy, the community has helped in strengthening Indo-Saudi relations, he added. He said that his interaction with the Saudi leadership, officials and ordinary Saudi nationals was always cordial. “I have made many friends among Saudis, Indians, and among Riyadh-based foreign diplomats,” said the outgoing Indian official.
Asked about his new role as secretary at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Dr. Sayeed said he would reach New Delhi later this month. “I am thankful to the Indian government for entrusting me with this important responsibility and for showing the confidence in me,” he said. As secretary (CPV & OIA), Dr. Sayeed will be one of the four secretaries at the MEA and responsible for the GCC, the Arab League, and the Maghreb Union together with 14 countries. In his current charge as Secretary (CPV & OIA), Dr Sayeed will be entrusted with the task to ensure that the passport services within India are easily accessible to every Indian citizen, and similarly, the Indian visa process is made more efficient. With his vast experience in dealing with the Indian diaspora, especially in Saudi Arabia, he will be working for more robust and deeper engagement with the diaspora.
Dr. Sayeed, who traveled extensively in Saudi Arabia with his wife Farha Sayeed, said: He is leaving the Kingdom with “great satisfaction and full of experiences.” “I am happy that I was in a position to be able to contribute qualitatively to enhance Indian-Saudi relations,” said the outgoing ambassador. He pointed out that the realm of bilateral relation has expanded and it today includes areas like economic, political, defense, security, manpower and many more areas of mutual concerns.
On commercial front, he said that the trade between Riyadh and New Delhi has been progressively growing. “Indo-Saudi trade and commerce continued unabated despite the Corona pandemic, with bilateral trade touching $25 billion between April and November 2021. A large number of Indian companies have either teamed up with Saudi companies as joint-ventures or invested themselves in the Kingdom. There are currently 745 Indian companies registered with the Saudi Ministry of Investment with a total investment exceeding $2 billion in a range of sectors, such as construction, IT, transport, hospitality, and healthcare.
Dr Sayeed, who also served as India’s consul general in Jeddah from August 2004 to July 2008, has also contributed in promoting India’s cultural heritage. During his tenure as the Consul General of India in Jeddah, he organized the first-ever India Festival in Jeddah (September 2005), followed by the First Asian Festival in Jeddah (October 2006) and the First Asian Film Festival in Saudi Arabia (February 2008). Besides being associated with the inauguration of the Maulana Azad Cultural Center in Cairo in 1992, he organized a 9-day festival India Week in Qatar in association with the National Council of Culture, Art and Heritage in which several artists from India participated.
During his tenure as a diplomat in different countries, Dr. Sayeed has had the distinction to add new dimensions to India’s cultural diplomacy. He was closely involved with the formation of the Saudi-India Friendship Society in 2006 under the patronage of the Saudi Ministry of Information and Culture. He was instrumental in organizing the visit of First All Women Saudi Student Delegation from the Jeddah-based Dar-Al Hekma College to India in 2007.
Not only this, Dr. Sayeed launched a revamped Saudi–India Business Network (SIBN in Saudi Arabia in September 2020, initially with chapters in Riyadh and Jeddah. Later a chapter was launched in Dammam. He also re-launched the Indo-Saudi Medical Forum (ISMF) with chapters in Jeddah and Riyadh to boost cooperation in the healthcare sector between the two countries. To this end, it is important to note that the ISMF was launched in the year 2008 during his tenure in Jeddah as the Consul General of India.
He was also instrumental in the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Yoga between India and Saudi Arabia, the first such agreement signed by any Islamic nation with India. The prestigious Yoga Mithra Award was presented to Dr. Ausaf Sayeed by the S-Vyasa University for his efforts to promote Yoga in the Kingdom. In his previous posting in Copenhagen from 2000-2004, he promoted a project called “Crosscurrents: The Indo-Danish Painters” meet in which joint painting exhibitions and workshops by Indian and Danish painters were organized in different cities in India and Denmark.
Dr. Sayeed has been called the People’s ambassador because of his easy availability for the Indian community. “Dr Sayeed will be known for his skillful diplomacy, strategic vision, and his outreach to the huge Indian diaspora in Saudi Arabia,” said Owais Ahmed, an Indian community leader and spokesman of the Saudi Indian Business Network, which organized a glittering farewell party for the outgoing ambassador a few days back.
“Dr Sayeed is a seasoned and skilled diplomat, and his depth of experience as a global strategist has made him a key figure in the development of Indo-Saudi relations”, said Engr Shakeel Khan, chief of the Nawazinda Group and World Business Group, who hosted another farewell party for the outgoing diplomat. A huge farewell party to felicitate and say goodbye to Dr. Sayeed was also organized by a cross-section of Indian community, according to Zaigham Khan, who heads the steering committee. – INDIA NEWS STREAM