RIYADH, 22 January — A special envoy of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will arrive here on Sunday for talks with Saudi leaders on tensions with neighboring Pakistan.
Najma Heptullah, deputy chairperson of the upper house (Rajya Sabha) of Indian Parliament, will lead a four-member delegation to acquaint the Saudi officials with the Indian position on the crisis, Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad said here yesterday.
Heptullah will be accompanied by M. Hamid Ansari, former ambassador of India to Saudi Arabia, who is now serving as rector of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), and another member of parliament Yerram Naidu.
A special envoy of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf visited the Kingdom last week to brief the Saudi leaders about the Indo-Pak crisis.
Heptullah, who is also the chairperson of the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) is likely to carry messages from senior Indian leaders to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard.
The talks between Saudi and Indian officials also come in line with an agreement on regular foreign office consultations signed by the two countries early last year.
During her four-day visit to the Kingdom, Heptullah will discuss a number of bilateral, regional and international issues with Saudi officials.
The diplomat said that the two countries have forged close relations in political, economic and cultural fields.
The Kingdom has emerged to be the 14th largest market for India and the source of 7.2 percent of India’s total imports. India is the fifth largest market for Saudi Arabia accounting for 4.3 percent of its total exports.
India also ranks 10th in terms of imports by Saudi Arabia, accounting for 2.6 percent of its total imports. The two-way trade exceeds $3 billion annually with the Kingdom being the largest supplier of crude oil to the country.
More than 1.5 million Indian nationals are currently employed in the Kingdom, which has set up a joint commission to promote economic, trade, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation.
