The Indian expatriate community is the largest expatriate community living in the Kingdom and working across all sectors from the blue-collared to the highest ranking officials in many corporations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I feel immensely proud to say that our Saudi brothers and sisters have an extraordinary sense of love and respect for the Indians especially for their sense of dedication, discipline and their law-abiding nature.

The relations between two countries have grown from strength to strength especially after the historical visit of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to India in January 2006, followed by the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in February 2010. Both the “Delhi Declaration” and “Riyadh Declaration” are a witness to the historic visits. These visits have created a deep interest amongst the people of the two countries to further explore areas of mutual progress and prosperity.

In my short tenure of about three and a half months in this beautiful country, I have had the opportunity of interacting with a wide section of people both from India and Saudi Arabia. The love and warmth, which I have received, is overwhelming. The Consulate General of India, Jeddah, is trying its best to extend all possible services within a minimum timeframe to the Indian Diaspora in the western parts of Saudi Arabia. Our efforts are directed to promoting cultural and commercial relations between the two countries.

There is a vast potential to be explored and exploited and I take this opportunity to request all my Indian brethren to actively contribute in this endeavor.

We have taken many initiatives to bring this office closer to our community and it would be our pleasure to work in tandem with the vast Indian community living in the western region. On this occasion, I again extend my heartfelt greetings to all the Indians, who live or work in this part of Saudi Arabia.