Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, who arrived on a three-day visit to India, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan is on his first visit to India.
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday discussed developments in Afghanistan with his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and deliberated on further enhancing bilateral ties in the areas of defence, trade, investment and energy.
In an extensive conversation with the Saudi leader, Jaishankar called on India to further relax restrictions on travel to the Gulf country and lauded the country for its support to the Indian community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Al Saud arrived here on a three-day visit on Saturday evening. This is the first visit of a Saudi Arabian minister to India since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, on a three-day visit to India
, said in a statement that the two ministers exchanged views on developments in Afghanistan and other regional issues. Jaishankar tweeted, “Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan has arrived on his first visit to India.
The Ministry of External Affairs said that the two ministers discussed all issues related to bilateral relations and regional and international issues of mutual interest. According to the ministry, “the two ministers reviewed the implementation of the ‘Strategic Partnership Council Agreement’,
which was signed during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia in October 2019.” It said both sides expressed satisfaction at the meetings and progress made under the agreement.
Discussions
took place in multilateral fora such as the G-20 and the Gulf Cooperation Council , the ministry said, “the two sides agreed to strengthen their partnership in trade, investment, energy, defence, security, culture, embassy issues, health care and human resources and Discussed steps to be taken.
The two sides also discussed bilateral cooperation in multilateral fora such as the United Nations, the G20 and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Saudi Foreign Minister is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
He has come on this visit at a time when India is in touch with all the powerful countries regarding the developments after the Taliban occupation of Afghanistan.
Discussion on the situation in Afghanistan
The main topic of discussion between Jaishankar and Al Saud was the situation in Afghanistan. As a major nation in the region, Saudi Arabia’s stand on developments in Kabul assumes significance as several countries in the Gulf region, including Qatar and Iran, were playing a role in the Afghan peace process before the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
In the Gulf region, India is in touch with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran over developments in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the change in power in Afghanistan has not been “inclusive”,
raising questions about the acceptability of the new regime and that the global community should be “collective” and informed about recognizing it in this situation. Decision should be taken after “thinking”.
