RIYADH, 11 February 2007 — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is looking forward to visiting Saudi Arabia in May as relations between the two countries are poised to strengthen in coming months.
“I have information that Dr. Singh will visit Riyadh in May,” said Somnath Chatterjee, speaker of the Indian Parliament’s lower house (Lok Sabha), while speaking to Arab News at the beginning of his five-day official visit to the Kingdom.
Somnath, who held wide-ranging talks with Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman and Shoura Chairman Saleh Bin-Humaid here yesterday, said he would like his own parliamentary delegation’s visit to be a demonstration of the transformation that has taken place in Saudi-Indian relations during the past year. His talks covered a whole range of subjects of mutual interest with special reference to bilateral ties.
The Lok Sabha chief said: “As the Indian Parliament is the most important democratically elected body, we would like to contribute to the development of Saudi-Indian relations further during this trip... the present warmth in bilateral relations is visible in Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s visit to India early last year, who was only the second Saudi king to visit India.”
King Saud was the first Saudi monarch to visit India in 1955. On India’s part only two prime ministers have visited Saudi Arabia — Jawaharlal Nehru in 1956 and Indira Gandhi in 1982.
Somnath’s delegation includes the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, K. Rehman Khan; Lok Sabha Secretary-General P.D.T. Achary; Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, a Muslim politician from Bhagalpur who recently won a Lok Sabha seat on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket; C. Ramachandraiah; E. Ponnuswamy; Vanlalzawma and Furkan Ansari.
Referring to the growing relations between Saudi Arabia and India, Somnath said that Riyadh and New Delhi have always had cordial ties and his visit is intended to strengthen those further.
“Both countries are eager to expand and diversify their economic ties beyond the traditional supply of oil,” said the speaker. Saudi Arabia is currently India’s largest and most trusted supplier of oil, and India is the Kingdom’s fourth largest oil customer. The value of two-way trade stands at over $7 billion per annum with the balance of trade in favor of the Kingdom. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is the 15th largest destination for Indian exports, while more than 106 Saudi-Indian joint ventures are in operation in the Kingdom alone besides some 50 joint ventures currently operating in India.
