On this special occasion of the 65th Republic Day of India when India adopted its Constitution and became a secular democratic republic, I extend my warm wishes to all Indian citizens, persons of Indian origin, friends and all well-wishers of India residing in this holy land. 

India and Saudi Arabia enjoy time-tested centuries-old relations, which are based on mutual benefit and common understanding. 

These relations have been sustained over the ages not only through friendly bilateral interactions, but more importantly through very close people-to-people contacts between the citizens of the two countries. 

The relations have been further cemented by the historic visits of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in January 2006 and the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Saudi Arabia in 2010. 

The two important declarations — Delhi and Riyadh Declarations — have set the tone and tenor of the relations between India and Saudi Arabia. 

The Riyadh Declaration articulates the similarity of assessment and approach of the two countries on regional and global issues, while affirming their commitments to promote bilateral ties in political security, defense and economic areas.

The past year has been a year full with hope and excitement for the Indian diaspora in the Kingdom.  The general amnesty announced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah was a blessing for many expatriates to regularize their status, become legal workers and also to return to their homes. 

Thousands of people who were waiting for an opportunity like this could finally benefit from the general amnesty. At the consulate, we made elaborate arrangements for helping our nationals. 

On days, we have had more than 2,000 applicants approaching us and with the help of volunteers, Indian community members and our staff we could help more than 70,000 Indians to obtain exit, change their sponsors by obtaining fresh passports from us and obtain employment through numerous job fairs which we organized in the consulate and at the International Indian School, Jeddah. 

We issued more than 35,000 emergency certificates, 7,000 new passports for sponsorship change, assisted about 12,500 Indian nationals in fingerprinting and conducted more than 3 job fairs to help more than 3,000 Indian workers obtaining fresh employment. 

The staff of the Consulate General of India gave their best, working for more than 24 hours on Tuesdays when our nationals were called for fingerprinting at the Deportation Center. 

This was a historic opportunity and we are proud of the fact that about 1.4 million Indians could use it to their benefit. 

King Abdullah, Labor Minister Adel Fakeih, Ministries of Labour and Interior deserve our fullest praise and appreciation for taking this initiative. 

The massive response of the community members who came out in full strength to support their brothers and sisters in this hour of need illustrates the unity in diversity of our great nation.  I also congratulate and thank many of our Saudi brothers and sisters who had come forward to help the Indian nationals regularize their status.

During 2013, under the Indian Community Welfare Fund, we assisted more than 5,000 Indians by spending more than SR1.2 million, air passage was provided to 207 stranded overseas Indians who could not afford their return tickets. 

On this occasion, I would like to place on record our sincere thanks and appreciation to King Abdullah, Crown Prince Salman, Haj Minister Bandar Al-Hajar, South Asian Moassassa and other agencies for conducting a highly successful and incident-free Haj 2013. 

About 136,000 pilgrims from India performed Haj without any hindrance. 

There is absolutely no doubt that the government of Saudi Arabia leaves no stone unturned to provide best possible facilities to the Guest of Allah and continues to improve the facilities for Umrah and Haj.

Faiz Ahmad Kidwai,

Counsul General, Indian

Consulate General in Jeddah