RIYADH, 13 April 2005 — Saudi Arabia and India are to diversify their relations in oil and gas, infrastructure, telecommunications, IT and health care sectors as part of their broad vision to boost bilateral trade from the current level of $6.63 billion and promote investments in both directions.
This was a major outcome of the sixth session of the Saudi-Indian Joint Commission at which Minister of Planning and Economy and Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al-Gosaibi announced the formation of specialized sub-committees to carry out the task.
Earlier, the Indian minister and his accompanying delegation had an audience with Crown Prince Abdullah, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation Prince Sultan and Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
Saudi Ambassador to India Saleh Al-Ghamdi, who attended all the meetings, told Arab News that he expects Crown Prince Abdullah’s visit to India to materialize before the end of this year. Another landmark agreement due to be signed in New Delhi relates to an investment treaty for protection and promotion of investments and the avoidance of double taxation at both ends.
Minister of Finance P. Chidambaram, who co-chaired the session along with Al-Gosaibi, named Saroj Kumar Poddar, senior vice president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry as the co-chairman of the joint committee on the Indian side.
The highlight of the event was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for setting up the Saudi-Indian Joint Business Council and specialized sub-committees to identify the areas of cooperation in IT and other key sectors. An upshot of the joint commission meeting was the decision to send a Saudi delegation to India in November.
All these aspects will be taken up for further consideration at the meeting scheduled at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry today. Some 100 Saudi businessmen will be participating as part of an aggressive drive to take Saudi-Indian relations to a new pitch. Currently, there are 65 joint ventures in the Kingdom. According to Dr. Azar Khan, commercial counselor at the Indian Embassy, the bilateral trade stood at $6.63 billion during 2003-2004, up 19 percent over the previous year.
Addressing the concluding session, Al-Gosaibi said both countries would deepen their cooperation between the various public and private-sector agencies in the two countries through the exchange of information, expertise and visits, besides organizing seminars on business issues as those to information and education.
Speaking on behalf of the Indian delegation, Chidambaram said the joint seminar held during his visit gave a new dimension to the deliberations of the commission. Different areas of cooperation were identified-from industry, science and technology to IT, education, healthcare, agriculture and community welfare.
Earlier, the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CSCCI) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for setting up the Saudi Indian Business Council for promoting greater interaction between the two business communities as part of their strategic alliance.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, Abdulrehman Al-Jeraisy, chairman of CSCCI told Arab News that the decision to expand relations between the two chambers falls within the framework of bilateral relations.
He said that as part of the MOU there will be regular contacts between the two business communities for identifying trade and business opportunities. The Saudi Indian Business Council will also hold regular meetings within the framework of the MOU. The next move in this direction will be to promote B2B contacts between the two communities. He announced that a Saudi businessmen’s delegation will leave for India in November coinciding with the next meeting of the Joint Business Council.
Speaking on behalf of FICCI, Poddar said preliminary discussions between the two sides have shown that the potential for expansion is far greater than the existing trade level of $2 billion in the non-oil sector. “The potential for expansion is tremendous both in terms of imports and exports.” He said another objective of the current mission to expand investments in both directions.
“We have identified a large number of areas for Saudi investors and also for Indian investors in Saudi Arabia, especially in the IT sector, where Indian software companies have established global reputation. Saudi companies are ideally suited for setting up joint ventures in India.”
Krishan Kalra, additional secretary general of FICC, said there were tremendous investment opportunities for Saudi businessmen in India which was planning to spend $150 billion in infrastructural development, such as roads, ports, power generation and telecommunications over the next five years.