Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist August 2018 | Page 10

Prime Minister at the
signing of agreements
between India and the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on
April 03, 2016.
changing Saudi Arabia’s perceptions of India.
For example, during the Kargil crisis, Saudi
Arabia took the neutral stand and sought
UN intervention to resolve the conflict.
This cordiality opened the way for further
shedding of old inhibitions and entering a
new chapter of political engagements and
culminated in External Affairs Minister,
Jaswant Singh’s visit to Saudi Arabia
in October 2000. The leader signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on
“Foreign Offi ce Consultations” that would
facilitate frequent interaction between the
two domestic establishments 12 .
The September 11 attack impinged
upon these new developments. Soon after
the crisis, Prince Saud Al Faisal, the Saudi
Arabian Foreign Minister, met Indian envoy
Talmiz Ahmed to discuss the looming threat
of terrorism in the wake of the attacks on
the US. The Saudi Minister acknowledged
India’s views and role in the present situation
as crucial. Both Saudi Arabia and India,
who had already experienced the evils of
terrorist attacks in their countries, agreed that
they should keep in constant touch in these
diffi cult circumstances 13 .
In a major breakthrough, the late Saudi
King Abdullah was invited as a Chief Guest
for the Indian Republic Day celebrations in
10 • Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 6 • Issue 8 • August 2018, Noida
New Delhi in 2006. He became the fi rst Saudi
King to get that honor, with protocol being
waived by the PM personally receiving the
Royal at the airport 14 . This visit injected fresh
energy into the countries’ mutual relations and
ended with the achievement of two pivotal
diplomatic milestones – the Delhi Declaration
and the subsequent Riyadh Declaration, four
years later on PM Manmohan Singh’s visit.
If the Delhi Declaration, was the fi rst such
bilateral document to be signed, providing a
comprehensive road map putting emphasis
on energy, security and terrorism, the
Riyadh Declaration of 2010 focused, apart
from actualizing the Delhi Declaration, on
developing knowledge-based economies
such as IT, space science and frontier
technologies 15 .
The engagement took an upward strategic
direction with the visit of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in April 2016 and his policy
of “Think West”. This approach cannot be
more aptly timed. Saudi Arabia, like its
compatriots in the Gulf, is now actively
looking east to develop its core interest,
selling oil. As growth in Western economies
slows and the U.S. becomes energy self-
suffi cient thanks to its shale revolution, the
markets with the greatest thirst for Middle
East’s oil lie in Asia, and are led by the likes