RIYADH, 15 August 2005 — The Kingdom's relations with India, and, indeed with other countries in East Asia are on course for further expansion with Saudi Arabia's declared intention to strengthen its ties with its partners in that region. This is expected to make Saudi foreign policy balanced and even-handed.
An indication to this effect was given early this year by Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Iyad Madani when he spelled out the Kingdom's 'Look East' policy on the occasion of a German cultural exhibition held in Riyadh recently. The minister said the Kingdom would be willing to support any initiative aimed at strengthening its cultural relations with the countries of East Asia.
It is in this context that one should read the statement of Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal when he described as a “historical event” India's participation for the first time at the Arab Summit in the Algerian capital Algiers. He said all the Arab states appreciated India's presence as New Delhi has had traditionally close relations with all of them and always backed Arab causes, Prince Faisal told E. Ahamed, minister of state for external affairs, who was leading an Indian delegation to the summit.
During the meeting with Ahamed, Prince Faisal said Saudi Arabia in particular and the Arab world in general looked forward to improving ties with India. He also announced that then Crown Prince, now Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, would be visiting India in response to an invitation by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Ahamed pointed out that the Indian government was in favor of closer ties with the Arab world to which it would be ready to extend technological and other support to the region. India and the 22-member Arab League signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2002 that provides the basis for regular and structured consultations and cooperation between the two sides.
Speaking of bilateral relations, India's Ambassador M.O.H. Farook told Arab News that Indian government looked forward to receiving King Abdullah who already has a standing invitation when he was Crown Prince. Similar invitations were extended to Prince Faisal and Riyadh Governor Prince Salman.
In reply to a question, the ambassador said there was a great scope for expansion in bilateral relations, since India is the world's fourth largest economy and has been internationally recognized for its strength in IT, biotechnology and space.
"We launched the satellites for Germany, South Korea and Belgium," he said, adding that the country with a pool of 1,500 research centers and the world's second largest pool of scientists could share its expertise with the Kingdom in addressing some of its concerns in the fields of IT, healthcare, agriculture, space and biotechnology, among others.
The ambassador said Saudis may not be aware that Indian scientists constitute 36 percent of the workforce at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 38 percent of doctors and 12 percent of scientists in the US, 34 percent of the manpower at Microsoft ,28 percent at IBM, 17 percent at Intel, and 13 percent at Xerox.
Acknowledging that an awareness of India's strengths in various fields was lacking among Saudis, he said one of his priorities would be to reach out to the Saudi society through the Arabic media. In the field of joint ventures, he pointed out, Indian pharmaceutical companies are trying to penetrate Saudi market. However, Ajanta Pharma has established a joint venture in the Kingdom to produce a variety of prescription and OTC drugs for the Saudi and Gulf markets.
In this context, the ambassador said, India, as the world's fourth largest manufacturer of pharmaceutical products, could supply or produce locally high quality medicines at competitive rates.
In the field of Science and Technology, cooperation between the two countries was continuing under different fora. In 1997, CSIR and King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) signed an MOU. CSIR had extended an invitation to the President of KACST to visit India to familiarize himself with the Indian scientific laboratories. The visit has not yet materialized.
However, KACST showed interest in the field of space science, remote sensing and Internet development. A program of technical cooperation was signed in June 1993 between the CSIR and the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO).
There is also ongoing cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia in the field of training of agricultural experts: eight Indian experts in the field of red palm weevil management were deputed to the Kingdom for a five-year term, while six Saudi agricultural experts in the same field visited India in January 2001 for a two-week orientation cum study tour.
