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PM Modi visits to Saudi Arabia
Prime Minister shri Narendra Modi visited Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He reached Jeddah on 23rd April at the invitation of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This was the third visit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, after the previous visits in 2016 and 2019.
This was the first visit of Prime Minister Shri Modi to the historic city of Jeddah. This visit also follows the landmark visit of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to India in September 2023. He was received by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Al-Salam Palace. He was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Royal Palace. It was followed by detailed bilateral discussions, and also the meeting of the Strategic Partnership Council.These two meetings also were followed by informal meeting between the two leaders. The meeting began with the reference to the unfortunate terror attack that has happened in India. Both the leaders expressed their condemnation for the terror attack.
Crown Prince conveyed his condolences and sympathies
His Royal Highness Crown Prince conveyed his condolences and sympathies and offered any help in this regard to us. The Prime Minister’s bilateral meeting was very fruitful, substantial, and forward-looking. Both the leaders discussed the full spectrum of bilateral relations, including energy partnership, defence, trade, investments, technology, culture and people-to-people ties.
Prime Minister and His Royal Highness also discussed the progress in the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and both the leaders agreed that it is a vision which is beneficial to everyone in the region, and they agreed to expedite the work on that. Both the leaders also discussed other issues of interest. Prime Minister thanked His Royal Highness for taking care of the welfare of 2.7 million Indian diaspora members living in the Kingdom. His Royal Highness particularly mentioned his appreciation of the contribution of the Indian diaspora in the Kingdom. He said that everyone in Saudi Arabia loves Indians and there is no Saudi who doesn’t have an Indian friend. He emphasized that in the next few years, due to many big developmental projects, they are looking at increasing the number of Indian workers.
Prime Minister and His Royal Highness also co-chaired the second meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council. The two leaders reviewed the work under various committees and they signed the minutes of the Strategic Partnership Council meeting. Honorable Prime Minister, apart from his engagements at the Royal Palace, also met the Indian community.
The Secretary General of Muslim World League, Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa today called on Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in Jeddah. He strongly condemned the ghastly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and offered deepest condolences on the innocent lives lost.
Prime Minister underlined that India attaches high importance to its relations with Saudi Arabia, which has today evolved into an enduring partnership across several domains. The close socio-cultural ties form an important facet of this partnership.
As you know, he was accorded special honors, including a 21-gun salute. The aircraft of Prime Minister was escorted by Saudi fighter jets when it entered the Jeddah airspace. These elements exemplify importance of Saudi Arabia attaches to its relations with India.
The two leaders also agreed to expand the scope of the Strategic Partnership Council, and it has been agreed that from the current two committees, we will have four committees in the Strategic Partnership Council. And the two new committees which have been agreed upon are on the defense cooperation and another is on the tourism and cultural cooperation.
Both the leaders also welcomed the discussions under the Joint High-Level Task Force on Investment. They welcomed the decision to collaborate on establishing two oil refineries as a joint venture in India. They also welcomed the progress which has been made in the areas of taxation, and the forward-looking agreements made to facilitate the investment on both the sides. There were four MOUs signed.
List of Outcomes: State Visit of Prime Minister to Saudi Arabia
I. Strategic Partnership Council
• The second leaders meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) was co-chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 22 April 2025 in Jeddah. The Council reviewed the work of the various committees, subcommittees and working groups under the SPC, which encompass political, defence, security, trade, investment, energy, technology, agriculture, culture and people-to-people ties. The discussions were followed by signing of the minutes by the two leaders.
• To reflect the deepening of defence partnership over the past few years – including joint exercises, training programmes, and collaboration in defence industry, the Council decided to create a new Ministerial Committee on Defence Cooperation under the SPC.
• To strengthen cultural and people-to-people ties, which has significant momentum in recent years, the Council decided to create a new Ministerial Committee on Tourism and Cultural Cooperation under the SPC.
• The four committees under the India-Saudi Arabia SPC shall now be as follows:
(1) Political, Consular and Security Cooperation Committee.
(2) Defence Cooperation Committee.
(3) Economy, Energy, Investment and Technology Committee.
(4) Tourism and Cultural Cooperation Committee.
II. High Level Task Force on Investment (HLTF)
• Building on the commitment of Saudi Arabia to invest USD 100 billion in India in multiple areas including energy, petrochemicals, infrastructure, technology, fintech, digital infrastructure, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and health, the joint High-Level Task Force on Investment came to an understanding in multiple areas to rapidly promote such investment flows.
• Both sides agreed to collaborate on establishing two refineries in India.
• The progress made by HLTF in areas such as taxation is a major breakthrough for greater investment cooperation in the future.
III. List of MoUs/Agreements:
• MoU between the Saudi Space Agency and the Department of Space of India on Cooperation in the field of Space Activities for Peaceful Purposes.
• MoU between the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India on Cooperation in the field of Health.
• MoU between the Saudi Arabian Anti-Doping Committee (SAADC) and the National Anti-Doping Agency, India (NADA) on Cooperation in the field of Anti-Doping Education and Prevention.
• Agreement between the Saudi Post Corporation (SPL) and the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications of India on Cooperation in Inward Surface Parcel.