Modi in riyadh

Modi in riyadh

Why partnership between India and Saudi Arabia suits strategic interests of both nations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to Saudi Arabia comes at a pivotal moment for New Delhi and Riyadh. For long, ties between the two sides have been akin to a buyer-seller relationship with Saudi oil fuelling the Indian economy. But today the Saudi leadership, especially under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), is looking to diversify its engagements with the world and elevate its ties with key countries such as India. This is because Riyadh knows that the days of the exclusively petrodollar funded Saudi state are numbered due to the advent of shale oil and renewables.

Hence, Riyadh is looking to completely transform its economy under the rubric of its Vision 2030 that envisages modern manufacturing, technology and service sectors. And that means linking Saudi industry to global value chains and preparing Saudi citizens – including Saudi women – for 21st century workplaces. This dovetails with MBS’s social reform agenda that in recent times has taken on the clergy and given women greater freedoms. And if Saudi Arabia – land of the holy Mecca and Medina – returns to a moderate version of Islam, it is bound to have a salutary impact on the global Muslim community and weaken the Wahhabi ideological moorings of Islamist radicalism, currently inflaming Pakistan as well as Kashmir Valley.

This is a geopolitical shift New Delhi should welcome and support. On the security front, New Delhi-Riyadh cooperation could blunt Pakistan’s strategy of sponsoring terror against India and asking the Saudis to bail it out when international heat turns up on it. The current Saudi leadership has already made plain it does not support any justification for terrorism. On economy, India offers a huge, diverse market for Saudi investments. Aside from investments in Indian refineries, Saudi funds for Indian infrastructure are welcome and necessary.

Meanwhile, much room for bilateral cooperation exists in green energy, IT, education and medicine. In fact, India can provide the software and human capital for Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation. Riyadh, on its part, should scrap the Asian premium on oil sales to New Delhi. Taken together, as Saudi Arabia eyes a new place for itself in regional geopolitics, its ties with India can serve as the bridge between West and South Asia. This would enable Riyadh to plug into the dynamic, rising economies of South and East Asia, thereby aiding its own economic transformation.