Sep 19: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal visited Saudi Arabia from 18th to 19th September 2022 to attend the Ministerial meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council. Along with Shri Goyal, Saudi Minister for Energy, His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud co-chaired the Ministerial meeting of the Committee on Economy and Investments of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council.
The Strategic Partnership Council was instituted in October, 2019 during the visit of the Prime Minister of India to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and has two main pillars i.e. Political, Security, Social and Cultural Committee and the Committee on Economy and Investments.
The notable outcomes of the Ministerial Meeting are:
- Streamlining efforts to realize the announcement made by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, during his visit to India in February 2019, of investments worth USD 100 Billion in India.
- Endorsement of the 41 areas of cooperation identified by the technical teams under the 4 broad domains of Agriculture & Food Security; Energy; Technology & IT; and Industry & Infrastructure.
- Agreement to undertake implementation of the priority projects in a time bound manner. Priority areas of cooperation include:
– Collaboration in digital fintech sector through operationalization of UPI and Rupay Card in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
– Re-affirmation of continued cooperation in joint projects including the West coast refinery, LNG infrastructure investment and development of strategic petroleum storage facilities in India
During the visit, Hon’ble Minister met H.E. Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, Minister of Commerce of Saudi Arabia, and held wide ranging discussions on the entire gamut of bilateral trade, commerce and investments linkages.
Diversification and expansion of trade and commerce, removal of trade barriers, including the outstanding issues related to sanitary and phytosanitary measures and trade remedies, automatic registration and marketing authorization of Indian pharma products in Saudi Arabia, feasibility of institutionalizing Rupee-Riyal trade, introduction of UPI and Rupay cards in Saudi Arabia; were amongst the key points of discussion.
“Had a fruitful meeting with H.E. Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, Minister of Commerce, KSA. Discussed ways to attract greater investment & further diversify bilateral trade to boost economic ties between India & Saudi Arabia”, the Minister tweeted after the meeting.
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