Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is staying back in India after the G20 Summit for his official state visit, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House on Monday. This is the Crown Prince's second state visit to India, the first being in 2019.
The leaders will co-chair the First Leaders' Meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council, a bilateral agreement between India and Saudi Arabia signed by the two nations in Riyadh in 2019. Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, also received a ceremonial welcome at Rastrapathi Bhavan.
After concluding this event, the Saudi Arabian PM will meet President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhawan around 6:30 pm.
The leaders will visit regional and international issues of concern during the meeting. Earlier, there were reports that the countries would sign an energy cooperation memorandum of understanding. The pact will reportedly focus on cooperation in energy efficiency, renewable energy, hydrogen and grid interconnection between the countries, reported Reuters.
Also on agenda are all aspects of bilateral relations, including political, security, defence, trade and economic, cultural and people-to-people ties.
Earlier on Saturday, India, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the European Union announced a historic agreement to launch a mega India-Middle East-Europe shipping and railway connectivity corridor. The announcement, seen as a counter to China's Belt and Road Initiative, was made on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.
The Saudi Crown Prince said he looks forward to the integration of the economic corridor. "We look forward to the integration of the initiative and the Economic Corridor project which is announced in this meeting. I would like to thank those who worked with us to reach this founding step to establish this important economic corridor," MBS added.
Besides, Saudi Arabia also hosted a three-day event along with the G20 Leader’s Summit to provide an immersive and interactive experience of the Kingdom’s leading projects in various fields. The event titled 'Media Oasis' will conclude on September 11 in New Delhi.
The event aims to provide an immersive and interactive experience of Saudi Arabia’s leading projects in the sectors of tourism, entertainment, technology, culture and sports. The overarching theme of the exhibit is ‘Vision 2030’, an initiative by Saudi Arabia aimed towards the diversification of the country economically, socially, and culturally.
