What’s the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman going to do in India?

It goes without saying that things often seem special whenever there’s a state visit from a dignitary or when a state head comes calling to any part of the world. There’s no surprise therefore that a lot is being expected from Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s visit to India.

And here’s the catch- or is there any?

En route to India, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is reportedly going to stop over to Pakistan. And that, therefore, forms a part of the first stop-over to his visit to the sub-continent.

That said, a question that everyone must be pondering about would be what brings the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to this part of the world, right?

So what do you think?

With a promise of new investment, well eyes may have lit up already (to whomsoever it matters perennially) the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince is slated to arrive in New Delhi on February 19 and shall stay on till the 20th.

India and Saudi Arabia, it must be shared, share a close relationship with there being several aspects governing the two nations’ economic ties. That said, what’s worthwhile to note is that as of the last year, India was selected as the ‘Guest of honour’ at the 2018 Janadriyah festival, a culture and heritage gathering that’s held each year near the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

And as for the recent spate of developments between the two countries, it’s also pertinent to note that the Saudi Arabian airlines ribbon-cut their new office at the Indian capital.

So while, there’s been no dearth in the buoyancy as many would note in the economic ties between the two countries, there still seems to be a bit of a lull- can we call it that- given Pakistan and India’s relation.

In fact, to that end, the revered Times of India also went on to write that the ties between India and Pakistan are such that India’s perspective on Pakistan remains ‘Hyphenated’ where it comes to the ties between the two neighbouring countries.

That said, it is expected that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman will be expected to hold talks with the honourable prime minister Shri Narendra Modi when he’s in town. As of 2018, it must be noted, Saudi Arabia has increased its supply of crude to the world’s largest democracy to an extent that it is meeting India’s 20 per cent of the overall crude requirement.

To elaborate further, quoting directly from the Times of India:

An MEA spokesperson referred to Saudi ARAMCO partnering ADNOC of UAE for the $44-billion Ratnagiri Refinery and Petro-Chemical project Ltd joint venture. However, growing local opposition has led the Maharashtra government to stall the land acquisition for the project.