India and Saudi Arabian trade minister shared details of various bilateral investment opportunities and emphasised on deepening economic partnership between the two countries.
India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan held a meeting with Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of Saudi Aramco, Khalid A. Al-Falih.
Minister Falih is on an official visit to India from February 22 to February 26.
The meeting is in continuation of rising engagement between both the countries in the hydrocarbon sector.
Both the Ministers have met at least four times in the last one year in Davos, Bangkok, Vienna and Houston. India’s engagement with Saudi is important as it is the largest oil producer in the world.
Saudi is among India’s largest energy suppliers being the 2nd largest supplier of crude and LPG. In 2016-17 India’s crude imports from Saudi were 39.5 MMT out of total imports of 214MMT which was around 18.5% of our total imports.
During the meeting, Pradhan mentioned Saudi Arabia’s eminence as a leading import source for crude and LPG to India.
Pradhan shared details of various investment opportunities in India in downstream and upstream sectors.
He also invited Saudi participation in Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Programme.
The Saudi side also provided details of investment opportunities for Indian companies in their country. Both sides agreed to conclude discussions regarding concrete investment proposals in a time-bound manner.
