NEW DELHI, 30 January 2006 — The Saudi Ambassador in India Saleh Al-Ghamdi revealed to Arab News on Saturday that the Indian Minister of Human Resource and Development Arjun Singh would be visiting the Kingdom in April to hold talks with Saudi Minister of Higher Education Dr. Khaled Al-Anqari.
“The minister will be holding talks with our minister of higher education on several aspects in the education field, and cooperation on that front. Both ministers will also discuss ways on how to give equal treatment to degrees from both countries and the future possibility of sending Saudi students on scholarships to India,” he said.
He said that he had personally sent the invitation to the Indian minister on the official visit.
The move if processed could provide a shift in the direction of the Saudi ministry to look East instead of West in sending Saudi students for higher studies.
The ambassador noted the success of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s visit to India saying that it had achieved positive results on the economic, political and cultural levels.
“There are other deals that have not been signed when King Abdullah was here due to the limitation of time,” noted Al-Ghamdi.
The ambassador said that areas where Saudi Arabia and India could further progress and form strategic partnerships are now being studied by both parties.
“Some of those areas are in the field of information technology as Indian companies are expected to cooperate with the Saudi Telecommunication and Information Technology Commission. Another is cooperation between the ministries of trade of the two countries,” he said.
Al-Ghamdi said that King Abdullah’s visit has “paved the way” for Saudi-Indian relations to blossom and for the two countries to form partnerships in various economic aspects.
“The door is now fully open between Saudi Arabia and India. Several Indian companies such as Tata and others already operate in the Kingdom ... after the king’s visit more Indian companies will emerge and the cooperation between the two countries will increase, especially in information technology,” he added.
Al-Ghamdi said that the Kingdom was seeking to diversify its economic avenues and not to put all it eggs into one basket. He said that India had the manpower and the expertise needed by Saudi Arabia.
Signings of deals would also benefit India at the same time, he said, adding that opening new projects would provide job opportunities for Saudis in the Kingdom.
