Riyadh, April 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia. His plane landed in Jeddah at 3:20 pm Indian time.
Earlier, Saudi fighter jets provided security to PM Modi’s plane when his plane entered Saudi airspace.
This is the first Saudi visit of the PM in his third term. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had invited PM Modi to visit Saudi Arabia.
Modi will reach Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 22 April. After this, he will meet the Crown Prince. MoUs may be signed between the two leaders regarding yoga, media, entertainment and sports.
After this, tomorrow i.e. on 23rd April, Modi will meet Indian workers in a factory in Saudi Arabia. Let us tell you that a total of 92 lakh Indians work in the Middle East, out of which about 27 lakh work in Saudi Arabia.
What issues can be discussed…
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East
There may be talks between PM Modi and MBS on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine and the attack by Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea.
Indian citizens imprisoned in Saudi jails-
According to the government, currently more than 10,000 Indians are imprisoned in foreign jails. The highest number of Indians, 2633, are imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, while the second highest number of Indians, 2518, are imprisoned in UAE.
Defence cooperation and energy security- Saudi Arabia is India’s third largest supplier of crude oil and LPG. Modi’s visit to Riyadh in April 2016 has increased mutual cooperation in political, economic, security and defence matters. This visit of Modi can give it further impetus.
IMEEC (India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor)-
This corridor starting from Mumbai will be 6 thousand km long. It includes 3500 km of sea route. After the construction of the corridor, about 40% time will be saved in transporting goods from India to Europe. However, due to tension in the Middle East, this project is not able to move forward.
Free-trade agreement-
During Prince Salman’s last visit to India, a free trade agreement was discussed between the two countries. This issue may also be discussed prominently during Modi’s visit. In the year 2023-24, India imported products worth about Rs 1 lakh crore from Saudi.
This is PM Modi’s third visit to Saudi
This is Prime Minister Modi’s third visit to Saudi Arabia. Earlier, he visited Saudi Arabia in 2016 and 2019. While MBS has so far visited India in 2019 and 2023. MBS had planned to visit India in 2022, but this visit was postponed due to busy schedule.
There are diplomatic relations between the two countries since 1947, which were changed to strategic relations in 2010. Since the beginning of 2024, there have been 11 ministerial level visits from India to Saudi Arabia. While Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister and Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources visited India in November 2024 and February 2025 respectively.