External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar on Sunday met with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah and handed over a written message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the meeting, bilateral relations between the two countries and opportunities of enhancing them were reviewed and the latest regional and international developments as well as the efforts being exerted towards them were discussed, it reported.
“Honoured to call on HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah this evening. Conveyed the warm greetings of PM Narendra Modi. Apprised him of the progress in our bilateral relations. Thank him for sharing his vision of our ties,” Jaishankar tweeted soon after his meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
According to an official update by the Saudi Press Agency, bilateral relations between the two countries and opportunities for enhancing them were reviewed and the latest regional and international developments were discussed during the EAM Dr. S Jaishankar’s three day visit to Saudi Arabia.
Undoubtedly, relations between the two countries have strengthened considerably over the past few years and now span a wide range of topics.
Before we analyse further Indo-Saudi bilateral relationships, let’s have a look at it’s chronological significance and also about the geo politics of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The Gulf Cooperation Council is a bloc of six gulf countries namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE which aims at coordinating, cooperation, and integration between them and achieving Arab regional unity. GCC member nations constitute a total GDP of in excess of 3.464 trillion USD along with a population of 54 million people living under their umbrella.
Historically, GCC and India have enjoyed cordial relations, with India as the immediate neighbour to the Gulf counties and a key player in ensuring peace and stability to the nation. Indian diaspora in the Middle East accounts for around 7.6 million people, with UAE at 3,41,000 followed by Saudi Arabia with 25,94,957. Kuwait hosts 10,29,861 Indians, Oman 7,79,351, Qatar 7,56,062. As per the RBI report remittances that this diaspora sends are said to be around 30% of the total remittances received by India from abroad, however, earlier this figure used to be 50%. Beside, this India’s trade and energy interests is also one of the major factor of strong relationship with GCC countries.
In 2021-2022, UAE with USD 72.9 billion of bilateral trade was the India’s third largest trading partner followed by Saudi Arabia as fourth largest trading partner of India. From Qatar, India imports 8.5 million tonnes a year of LNG and exports products ranging from cereals to meat, fish, chemicals, and plastics. Two-way commerce between India and Qatar had risen to USD 15 billion in 2021-22 from USD 9.21 billion in 2020-21.
Oman and Bahrain also witnessed a flourishing bilateral trade with India. In recent years trade between Oman and India has increased to about USD 10 billion as compared to USD 5.5 billion previously.
Similarly, while Bahrain’s two-way trade with India stood at USD 1.65 billion in 2021-22 as against USD 1 billion in 2020-21. Bilateral trade with Kuwait has witnessed an increase too as the trade figure jumped to USD 12.3 billion in 2021-22, compared to USD 6.3 billion in the previous financial year.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, India’s export to the gulf countries has increased by 58.26 percent to about USD 44 billion in 2021-22 against USD 27.8 billion in 2020-21, with Gulf countries. Bilateral Trade between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council grew from US$ 87.35 billion in FY 2020-21 to US$ 154.66 billion in FY 2021-22, registering a whopping increase of 77.06% on a year-on-year basis.
Currently, when global geopolitics is witnessing multiple events: from the pandemic, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the ongoing war in Ukraine to the growing tensions over Taiwan, the rise of the Indo-Abrahamic block can be seen as creator of a West Asian system, establishing a balance of power against the region’s dynamic independent powers, Iran and Turkey, and stabilising the region in an era of great power competition. Against this backdrop, India and Saudi Arabia is also looking forward as natural strategic and economic partners, with many growing convergences.
The Indo-Abrahamic framework syncs well with Saudi Arabia’s strategic ambitions to leverage its ‘unique strategic location’ to transform into a global hub between Asia, Europe, and Africa in Vision 2030. The kingdom sees itself as being ‘at the heart of the Arab and Islamic worlds’. While India’s primary interest in West Asia is its willingness to coordinate with the major regional and extra-regional players for stability and security of the Gulf region.
And Vision 2030 identifies India as one of the eight countries chosen for a ‘strategic partnership’. The strategic arena offers even more potential for growth for the two countries than the economic realm, given its historically low base. In October 2019, Saudi Arabia and India announced the establishment of a Strategic Partnership Council which would meet regularly involving ‘the leadership at the highest level in both countries to discuss new avenues like defence, security, counterterrorism, energy security, and renewable energy. And this is very much clear from the significantly transformed state engagement between New Delhi and Riyadh, including the establishment of a high-level Strategic Partnership Council in the past and, the interest in increasing investment linkages. External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar’s three-day visit to Saudi Arabia can also be seen as part of the same strategy way forward. This also marks his first visit to this country as Foreign Minister.
On the second day of his trip, EAM Dr. Jaishankar met the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Dr. Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajrafin. The minister described this meeting as ‘Productive’ in which both the leaders exchanged views on the current regional and global situation and the relevance of India-GCC cooperation. During this meeting, MoU was signed on the mechanism of consultations between India and GCC this will prove to be a significant step in the strengthening of multilateral relations between India and the Gulf. He addressed diplomats at the Prince Saud Al Faisal Institute of Diplomatic Studies in Riyadh on Sunday, where he “underlined the importance of India-Saudi strategic relationship at a time when the world is at crossroads”.
Even as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserted that India-Saudi Arabia “collaboration holds promise of shared growth, prosperity, stability, security and development”, his first visit to the kingdom as foreign minister comes in the wake of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s remarks about Prophet Mohammad which were termed “insulting” by Riyadh.
Earlier this year, there was an unease in India’s ties with some Islamic countries, including Gulf nations, over the controversial remarks of two former BJP leaders on the Prophet Mohammad. All six GCC nations had condemned the remarks.
-Dr. Shahid Siddiqui
Follow via Twitter @shahidsiddiqui
