PM Modi and the Crown Prince discussed the horizons of bilateral cooperation between India, Saudi Arabia
Highlights
- Saudi Arabia offered to supply oil to India for its growing energy needs
- Also discussed was a large refinery on western coast of India
- PM Modi, Saudi's crown prince met on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit
Saudi Arabia has offered to supply India with oil and petroleum products it needs to meet its growing energy demands during a meeting between Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, official Saudi media reported on Friday.
The two leaders met at Salman's residence in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed the horizons of bilateral cooperation between the two friendly countries in the various political, security, economic, investment, agricultural, energy, cultural, and technological fields, Saudi Press Agency reported.
In the investment field, they discussed the investment opportunities in the infrastructure through the Public Investment Fund, as well as opportunities in the agricultural field with the aim of replacing agricultural imports from other countries to the kingdom with Indian agricultural imports.
In the field of energy, they discussed the kingdom's readiness to supply India with all of its needs of oil and petroleum products, as well as Saudi Aramco's investment in refineries in India, especially the large refinery on the western coast of India and in the field of crude oil storage, the report said.
The import of crude oil by India forms a major component of bilateral trade with Saudi Arabia being India's one of the largest suppliers of crude oil, accounting for almost one-fifth of its needs.
India has a refining capacity of 232.066 million tonnes, which exceeded the demand of 194.2 million tonnes in 2016-17 fiscal.
According to the International Energy Agency, this demand is expected to reach 458 million tonnes by 2040.
During the meeting, the two leaders also discussed investment in solar energy through the Soft Bank Vision Fund and through the Saudi companies which will build solar energy projects.
In the military field, they discussed strategies to localise military industry and cooperation in the field of military manufacturing in both countries, the report said.
They also reviewed what has been accomplished during the previous two years in the area of bilateral relations.
The two sides reviewed the available opportunities to export the Saudi non-oil products to India, and ways to develop bilateral trade through sustainable arrangements, especially in strategic commodities such as Saudi fertilizers as well as promoting the exchange of investment in the industrial sector, it said.