India’s Relations with Saudi Arabia

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Since its independence, India has sought to maintain strong ties with Saudi Arabia, an important regional power and trading base in West Asia. Relations between the two countries are rooted in strong historical and civilisational links. 

Saudi Arabia is also home to more than 1.4 million Indian workers. The mutually beneficial partnership encompasses active cooperation in a wide spectrum of spheres.

• Union Minister of External Affairs co-chaired with his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the first ministerial meeting of the Committee on Political, Security, Social and Cultural Cooperation (PSSC), established under the framework of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council.
•  He also met with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary, the two leaders signed an MoU on the mechanism of consultations between India and the six-nation regional bloc.

Recent Developments

• On account of remarks on Prophet Mohammad by Nupur Sharma Saudi Arabia issued a strong statement condemning the same.
• Covid-19 pandemic: India provided 4.5 million COVISHIELD vaccines to the Kingdom, whereas, during the second wave, the latter provided India with COVID-relief material, particularly liquid oxygen. Large-scale repatriation exercise of the community due to the pandemic, which has led to more than 8,00,000 Indians being repatriated through Vande Bharat Mission
• Committee on Political, Security, Social and Cultural Cooperation (PSSC): established under the framework of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council.
• India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council – was formed to coordinate on strategically important issues. The council will be headed by the Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed and will meet every two years.

Saudi Arabia significant to India

• Indian Diaspora: The 2.7 million strong Indian community is the largest expatriate group in Saudi Arabia. They send remittances of over US $11 billion annually to India.
• Counter-terrorism: India needs Saudi Arabia to support India’s efforts against terrorism and against Pakistan. Saudi Arabia is an influential nation in Middle East and Muslim World. Riyadh has largely shown an understanding of India’s terrorism-related concerns, and has agreed to work with India in countering the global menace.
• Strategic significance: Saudi is geographically located near Strait of Hormuz. This is world’s most important oil artery and strategically important for India’s energy security.
• Investment: Saudi has one of the largest Sovereign Fund in the World. It is an important nation to invest fund in India particularly in National Infrastructure and Investment fund (NIIF). India needs fund for its infrastructure sector.
• Against Pakistan: Saudi Arabia has a substantial influence over Pakistan. India can use this influence to bring Pakistan to negotiating table for talks on terrorism and bilateral relations.
• Energy: Saudi Arabia is a source of 17% or more of crude oil and 32% of LPG requirements of India and thus a key pillar of India’s energy security. With US sanctions on Iran, India needs to import crude oil from other sources to meet its energy need. Saudi Arabia have offered India with additional crude oil supplies to meet India’s growing needs.
• Cultural: The Saudi Kingdom facilitates Hajj pilgrimage to over 1,75,000 Indians every year. This is one of the other reasons why Saudi Arabia is an important country for India.
• Exports: Other areas of interest for joint collaboration are fertilisers, food security, infrastructure, renewable energy, etc. ICT, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, electronic and manufacturing facilities, and housing are other potential areas of enhanced cooperation.

Way forward

• Need for a balance policy in terms of strategic, defence and economic partnership
• Diversification of trade relations beyond crude oil and LPG
• Collaboration on handling terrorism through sharing of military insights and increasing joint military exercises.

Gulf Cooperation Council

• The Riyadh Agreement was issued which proposed cooperative efforts in cultural, social, economic, and financial affairs.
• A Constitution was initiated in March 1981 and was signed by the Gulf Heads of State (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE) on May 25-26, 1981 at Abu Dhabi, the UAE. Consequently, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) came into existence.
• The GCC is a political and economic alliance of countries in the Arabian Peninsula.
• It was established in 1981 to foster socioeconomic, security, and cultural cooperation.
• Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are its members.
• The Secretariat is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
• They gather every year to discuss cooperation and regional affairs.
• All current member states are monarchies, including three constitutional monarchies(Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain), two absolute monarchies (Saudi Arabia and Oman), and one federal monarchy (the United Arab Emirates).