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Jaswant Singh’s Saudi Arabia visit : Concern over terrorism shared |
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India and Saudi Arabia have underscored their common abhorrence of international terrorism and stressed the importance of finding peaceful solution to all outstanding problem in the volatile region, including Jammu and Kashmir. Views on these issues were exchanged during the talk the visiting External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Sing, had with the Saudi leadership in Riyadh on an. 20. In his talks with Mr. Singh, Saudi Crown Prince Abdulla, who is the designated heir apparent to King Fahd and manage the day to day affairs of the State, expressed his hope for an early dialogue between India and Pakistan. Expanding on India’s recent initiatives for a peace process, Mr.Singh reaffirmed India’ strong commitment to resumption of dialogue if Islamabad ends its support to cross-border terrorism.
The discussion on Indo-Pak relation and terrorism was part of a broader review by the two side on the regional situation, including the latest developments in Afghanistan, the Gulf and the Middle East. The exchanges also focused on expanding bilateral relations that have been neglected for decades. Mr. Jaswant Singh and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Saud al Faisal, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on “foreign office consultation” that will facilitate frequent interaction between the two diplomatic establishments. signatures on another MoU on cooperation to combat crime and drug trafficking was delayed because of procedural reasons. It was decided that there could be more regular exchange of high level visits.
The visit of Mr. Singh to Saudi Arabia is being billed as an important political mission adding a new dimension to existing ties. the relationship has been mainly an economic. Over one million Indians work in Saudi Arabia sending back $4 billion home annually. India buys over 25 per cent of its petroleum requirements from Saudi Arabia.
It is the first high level visit from India in nearly two decades, a gap that seems even more extraordinary in view of Saudi Arabia’s importance to India, supplying as it does, a quarter of India’s crude oil and 40 per cent of its gas requirement. Mr. Singh was all set to travel to Saudi Arabia last October. But, the visit was postponed at the lat minute because of the Saudi preoccupation with the entirely unexpected political crisis in West Asia.
In the past the two countries had close and warm relations and as far back as 1955, King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz, the unifier of modern Saudi Arabia, visited India with hi family. It was followed the next day by a visit to Riyadh in 1982 by Indira Gandhi when a Joint Commission wass set up and the two countries recognized that the security of South Asia and the Arabian peninsula was indivisible and integrated. Since 1982, however, a chain of domestic events prevented the two countries from following up on this promise of a strategic partnership and the relationship was not only allowed to lapse but to be shadowed by differences engendered by the Cold War and regional tension. Saudi Arabia’s involvement in Afghanistan again the soviet Union and its subsequent close tie with Pakistan firmly quenched any enthusiasm for bilateral ties. Though the situation as undergone vast changes since then which have thrown open new areas of cooperation and consonance of interests, preoccupation with domestic and regional issues aside kept the two countries from following this up.
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