It gives me immense pleasure to celebrate the 61st Independence Day of the Republic of India. On this happy occasion, I extend my warm greetings and congratulations to all members of the Indians community residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I also extend my friendly greetings and best wishes for the happiness and prosperity to our Saudi brothers.

On this auspicious occasion, we remember our freedom fighters, who sacrificed their lives to attain independence. I salute them with great reverence. After independence, we have achieved impressive progress in all areas including economic, social, cultural, educational and science and technology etc. under the able statesmanship of the builders of our nation. India’s impressive strides in information technology (IT), progress in biotechnology like stem cell research, our tryst in space exploration and steady and accelerating economic growth have made India strong and vibrant. We all are proud of our nation, which stands and progresses on the innate strength of its people.

On this day, I acknowledge with pride the positive contribution of the Indian community to the development of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has been always generously appreciated by the Saudi society and its leadership. Indians have lived harmoniously and with friendship in Saudi society and have an exemplary record as law-abiding and hard-working expatriate community. I am proud of Indians in the Kingdom and compliment them for the excellent image of India through their sincere efforts and hard work.

Although trade and people to people ties between India and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are ancient and historic, yet government to government diplomatic efforts between the two countries have helped to make these relations stronger, more vibrant, contemporary and mutually beneficial. Continuous political interaction has nurtured and shaped our ties in recent decades. The visit of the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz to India in January 2006 is indeed, a historic landmark in the political and economic relations between the two countries. We were honored to hear from King Abdullah that he regarded India as his “second home”.

The king’s visit has undoubtedly, opened a new chapter in bilateral cooperation in diverse fields and has contributed to a qualitative upgradation of the already strong bilateral relationship. There is enormous potential in our relations with Saudi Arabia and we are determined to enhance the areas of interaction as well as to build on the momentum already achieved.

The past few months has witnessed positive developments that have brought us on to the threshold of a new phase in our bilateral relations. We are in the midst of a serious, constructive and purposeful dialogue process with Saudi Arabia and we can say with satisfaction that we are moving in the right direction.

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The 7th session of the Indo-Saudi Joint Commission (JCM) for economic, trade, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation between India and KSA was held in Jan. 18-19, 2007 in New Delhi. Dr. Hashim Abdullah Al-Yamani, minister of commerce & industry, visited India along with a high level business delegation and an ICT delegation to co-chair the JCM in New Delhi. A Parliamentary delegation led by the speaker of Lok Sabha visited Kingdom from Feb, 9-13, 2007 and met Crown Prince Sultan, Riyadh Governor Prince Salman and Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal. They held delegation level talks with Shoura Council. Mani Shankar Iyer, minister of youth affairs and panchayati raj, visited the Kingdom from Feb. 14-16, 2007 and held extensive discussions on areas of cooperation in sports and youth affairs with his counterpart Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, president of General Presidency of Youth Welfare and Sports.

A delegation led by E. Ahamed, minister of state for external affairs, represented India as observers in the 19th Arab League Summit held in Riyadh on March 28-29, 2007. During his visit Ahamed met King Abdullah and delivered a letter from the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He also met Saudi foreign minister, secretary-general of the Arab League and Saudi minister of information and culture. Murli Deora, minister of petroleum & natural gas, accompanied by a 9-member delegation, visited Riyadh from May 1-2, 2007 to attend the 2nd Roundtable of Asian Oil Ministers in Riyadh. The members of the delegation included the CMDs of IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC and EIL.

We are happy that in the recent past bilateral relations in the field of education has been institutionalized and enhanced. During the visit of Dr. Khalid Al-Anqari, Saudi minister of higher education, to India in Nov. 2006, a MoU on Scientific and Educational cooperation was signed. Under the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP) instituted by Custodian of Two Holy Mosques over 100 have proceeded to India to pursue various courses of higher education.

India and Saudi Arabia have trade relations dating back several centuries. India is 5th largest trading partner for Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the 15th largest market for India, and India is the 5th largest market for Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the largest source of crude oil to India, supplying 26 percent of India’s total crude requirements. Total Indo-Saudi bilateral trade during 2005-06 was $3.44 billion of which Indian exports and imports account for around $1,809.77 and $1,632.34 million respectively. This does not include import of crude by India. The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) has awarded 190 licenses to Indian companies to establish JVs or 100 percent Indian-owned entities in KSA in different sectors such as petrochemicals, construction, telecommunications, IT and pharmaceuticals. There are around 49 Indo-Saudi joint ventures in India.

With the active support of the people and the governments of the two friendly countries, Indo-Saudi relations are growing in all fields. On this auspicious occasion, I look forward to the further deepening, widening and diversification of our exemplary ties. I hope that the coming months would witness more exchanges among our people and I believe that in the years to come, the bilateral relationship between our two countries will further consolidate to the mutual benefit of both our countries.

I conclude by expressing my confidence in a bright future for India-Saudi Arabia relations and with the belief that India and Saudi Arabia can become engines of economic growth by expanding the areas of our cooperation and dialogue.

Jai Hind.

M.O.H. Farook

Ambassador

India