Diplomacy Unplugged Series: Reflecting India-Saudi Arabia Economic Partnership

Diplomacy Unplugged Series 

Reflecting India-Saudi Arabia Economic Partnership 

Interaction with H.E. Dr. Saud bin Mohammed A Al Sati, Ambassador of Royal Kingdom Saudi Arabia to India 

10^th February 2021: 1100-1230 hrs 

Tribhuvan Darbari, Board Director Simon India, Chief Executive – Texmaco Rail & Engineering, MD & CEO – Texmaco Defence (part of Adventz Group USD 3 Billion Company) and also Member of the  India Arab Council participated in ‘Diplomacy Unplugged Series: Reflecting India-Saudi Arabia Economic Partnership‘, for bringing about close cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia in the areas of cost-effective state-of-the-art technologies for EPC projects in various Oil, Gas and Petro-Chemical projects in Saudi Arabia, and in further assisting in building the Railway Infrastructure in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

H.E. Dr. Saud bin Mohammed A Al Sati, Ambassador of Royal Kingdom Saudi Arabia to India was very warm to this idea and offered to introduce Mr. Tribhuvan Darbari to the Hon’ble Ministers of Energy, Industries & Investments of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to take the relationship forward.

Tribhuvan Darbari thanked Mr. Devin Narang, FICCI Executive Committee member and Chairman Diplomacy Unplugged and Mr. Manish Singhal, Deputy Secretary-General, FICCI, India for organizing such a useful interaction with His Excellency.

Commenting on the importance of such events, Tribhuvan Darbari said, “The interaction between the government and business is a prerequisite to explore the potential of economic growth and to harness business opportunities across the world.  India and Saudi Arabia enjoy cordial and friendly relations reflecting the historic economic and socio-cultural ties.”

Thereafter, highlighting the strategic cooperation between India and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tribhuvan Darbari also mentioned that Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth-largest trade partner (after China, USA, and Japan) and a major source of energy as India imports around 18% of its crude oil requirement and 30 % of its LPG requirement from the Kingdom. In FY 2019-20, bilateral trade was valued at US $33.07 billion. During this period, India’s imports from Saudi Arabia reached US $26.84 billion and exports to Saudi Arabia were worth US$ 6.24 billion registering an increase of 12.18% over last year. Total trade with Saudi Arabia accounted for 4.23% of India’s total trade in FY 2019-20.

Mr. Darbari further added that in the light of the recent encouraging Geo-Political developments in the Gulf, we all know that Saudi Arabia will play a crucial role in our neighborhood opening further windows for economic partnerships particularly in the New Normal; therefore, more such events should take place frequently to strengthen and boost strategic partnership and cooperation between both the countries.