SPEECHES / STATEMENTS 

PM addresses India-Saudi Arabia Business Meet

January 25, 2006, New Delhi

"I am truly delighted to be here in your midst, in the gracious presence of our most Honoured Guest, the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud. I am equally delighted that we are here to talk about business and the opportunities for business between our two great countries.

Saudi Arabia is a country of very special significance for us in India. Our two countries have very close and complementary relations for centuries. We are, in a matter of speaking, civilisational neighbours. Today, we have become an important factor in each other's strategic neighbourhood.

It is a matter of deep satisfaction that our multi-faceted ties are developing steadily. They cover a widening spectrum including economic, commercial, political, educational, cultural and other fields. We have shared interests in peace, stability and economic progress in our region.

Trade relations between India and Saudi Arabia go back several centuries. Both countries have always been close and important trading partners. In another time this relationship represented the knowledge economy of the day. Traders from the Arabian peninsula who carried India's ancient Mathematical science far and wide were the knowledge workers of their age.

Today, we have re-discovered and re-invented our bilateral relationship. The presence of His Majesty as the Chief Guest at our Republic Day is a manifestation of the new wind of change that is now blowing in our relations with Saudi Arabia. India is Saudi Arabia's 4th largest trading partner and the total India-Saudi Arabia bilateral trade reached about US$ 9 billion in 2004. I am sure this visit of His Majesty King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud to India will impart a fresh new dimension and added thrust to enhancing the content and quality of the economic and commercial relations between our two countries.

Since 1991, the Indian economy has, undergone profound changes not only in its direction but also in its fundamental structures and underpinnings. Our economic liberalization programme is reflected across the Indian economic landscape and it has led to an economy that is growing faster, with increasingly more stable fundamentals. Our economy has also been able to integrate itself with the global economic mainstream.

I am happy that today there are around 49 India-Saudi joint ventures in India and that Saudi authorities have approved 82 fully Indian owned entities or joint ventures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Similarly, more Indian companies are investing in Saudi Arabia, especially in the fields of Oil, Natural Gas and Petrochemicals, Information Technology, Telecommunications and Science & Technology.

I am sure the signing earlier today of the Bilateral Investment and Promotion and Protection Agreement and Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement will be a very important step forward in providing a more favourable legal and institutional framework for the promotion of bilateral investments in our two countries. I believe this would also infuse greater confidence among the members of the business community and that it would encourage them to make further investments.

Today, India's economy is rapidly on the move. For three years, we have witnessed growth rates of between 7% and 8.5%. A growing market, with a large middle class, abundant raw materials, highly trained and skilled manpower, especially in the field of science and technology, is eagerly seeking new investment.

The Indian economy will now need massive doses of investment in every conceivable area. Our requirements of foreign investment are particularly large in the field of power, telecommnications, roads, ports and housing sectors. Investment needs for the power and telecom sectors alone are estimated at over $100 billion over the next five years! Transportation infrastructure, including airports and railways, will require another $55 billion over the next 10 years. I therefore invite the business community of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to take advantage of these opportunities to further establish mutually beneficial Joint Venture projects.

We in India greatly welcome Saudi Arabia's membership of the World Trade Organization. We hope that this will help in further enhancing and strengthening our bilateral economic ties as I believe this will lead to new opportunities for boosting the commercial and economic interaction between our two countries.

The scope for mutually beneficial cooperation is vast. We will be happy to share our capabilities and expertise with Saudi Arabia in the fields of health, Information Technology, small-scale industries. The economies of both countries are undergoing rapid economic liberalisation. Therefore, in this era of globalization, we must encourage our private sectors to establish closer linkages through concerted and sustained interaction aimed at long-term cooperation.

I am confident that this historic visit of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud will be a pacesetter, a harbinger for more intensive and wide ranging engagement between our two countries. I wish the participants in this business meet profitable and beneficial interaction. I thank His Majesty from the core of my heart for gracing this function with his august presence. I hope all this will be the start of a very productive and more intensive phase in our bilateral ties."