Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Saudi Arabia from October 28th to October 29th.
In a press briefing organized by the Ministry of External Affairs, Secretary (Economic Relations) TS Tirumurti announced the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia on October 29th. It will be a one day visit. The Prime Minister is expected to land on the late night of October 28th. Here is a brief schedule of his upcoming visit:
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1. He is expected to call on HRH Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, king of the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It will be a bilateral meeting with the king. The king is expected to organize a banquet lunch for the Prime Minister and other guests.
2. The Prime Minister will then be delivering the key note address of the Future Investment Initiative. This is an investors summit organized by the Government of Saudi Arabia. It will be an opportunity to highlight India’s improvement in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index and attract investments.
As Saudi Arabia has decided to diversify its economy to non-oil sectors and it is guided by Vision 2030 plan, this summit is an important event in the annual calendar of the government.
3. The Prime Minister will then hold delegation level talks with the HRH Mohammad Bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Here many agreements are expected to be signed and matters discussed.
4. The most important agreement that is expected to be signed is related to India-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council.
This arrangement will be headed by the Prime Minister and Crown Prince at the apex level. It will then contain two verticals headed by the External Affairs Minister/Foreign Minister of the two nations and the Commerce and Industry Ministers.
The agreement is expected to be signed during this visit. It was discussed during the previous visit of the Crown Prince to New Delhi in February 2019.
5. A Memorandum of Understanding is expected to be signed in the fields of renewable energy, oil refineries, civil aviation amongst others.
6. An agreement related to Saudi investment into the National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) will be signed.
7. A joint Naval exercise will be organized by end of December 2019/January 2020.
8. Other matter for discussion will include security issues, defence matters and strategic matters including terrorism. A MOU on fighting drug trafficking is expected.
9. To ensure the safety of Indians working in the kingdom, India’s E-Migrate and Saudi’s portal will be linked.
10. A MOU regarding utilization of RUPAY debit cards shall be signed. Saudi Arabia will be the third nation in the GCC region where these cards will be accepted. Earlier UAE and Bahrain had agreed to permit its use.
11. The Crown Prince is expected to organize a banquet dinner for the Prime Minister who will then return home to New Delhi.