New Delhi, February 20: Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was welcomed at the airport on Tuesday evening by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi with a warm hug in New Delhi. Saudi’s prince is on a one day visit to India which will be closely watched for talks between the two leaders on terrorism and trade.

 

Before coming to India, the crown prince was in Islamabad at the start of his tour of South Asia. Amid India's efforts to diplomatically isolate Pakistan as castigation for the Pulwama terror attack, the Crown Prince had praised Islamabad's “efforts for regional peace and security” and announced investments worth 20 billion dollars at the end of his two-day visit to the country on Monday.

 

The Saudi prince's visit to India comes nearly three years after PM Modi’s visit to Riyadh in 2016, during which the two nations expanded cooperation across diverse areas including trade, investment and counter-terrorism.

“The visit by Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, will open avenues for new and larger investment from Saudi Arabia into India”, PM Modi told Saudi Gazette in an exclusive interview.

 

“During the forthcoming visit of HRH, the Crown Prince, my endeavor will be to put in place a high level mechanism to monitor the progress in our bilateral relations. We are also progressing towards establishing India–Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council which focuses on consolidating bilateral cooperation in specific areas under the Kingdom’s newly constituted Saudi Centre for International Strategic Partnership”, he further added.

The Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was greeted by the President of India Ramnath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a Ceremonial Reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

 

“We are very happy to be here in India. Saudi Arabia and India’s relation dates back to thousands of years. Ever since we remember ourselves, we know Indian people as friends and we want to make sure this relation is maintained and strengthened for the sake of both the countries”, the Prince stated at the ceremony.

 

From India, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to leave for China to end his three-nation tour of South Asia.