India’s West Asia moment has finally arrived with strategists
reckoning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Riyadh as “spectacular”.
Modi’s resounding victory at the General Elections, 2014 was meted with a tepid
response from the Middle East who were largely skeptical of his Hindutva
affiliations. Moreover his unabashed fondness for Benjamin Netanyahu drained
off West Asia’s interest in the new government. Modi having quickly learnt the
diplomatic ruses, shifted gears and formally warmed up to the Middle East by
meeting the Saudi Arabia’s sixth king, the late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al
Saud on the margins of G-20 summit at Brisbane. While Modi’s visit to UAE in
August 2015 was a curtain raiser to India’s tryst with West Asia, his current
visit to Riyadh, the last leg of his three-nation tour consolidated New Delhi’s
ties with the Gulf. Modi’s Saudi Arabia tour was marked by propitious
beginnings with Saudi and the US jointly imposing sanctions on four Pakistani
individuals and terror outfits Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT), Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
India had trade links with Saudi Arabia dated back to seventh
century AD. Arabs known to be pioneers of International commerce started
trading along the Malabar Coast. The indomitable cultural linkages in the form
of annual Haj pilgrimage by millions of Indian Shiite and Sunni Muslims vitally
connects India to Saudi. India always had cordial relations with Saudi Arabia
despite Riyadh’s support to Pakistan. India’s interests in Middle East is very
crucial since the regions is source of oil, jobs, remittances and military
equipment. Of the 7.3 million Indians working in the Gulf who constitute 64% of
the total-non-resident Indians, 2.8 million Indians live in Saudi Arabia. The
remittances of over $36 billion, from Gulf accounts for 52% total remittances of
India. India is an oil-deficit country and imports nearly 80% of all its oil
and Saudi Arabia is its largest supplier.
Diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia were heralded largely by Delhi
Declaration (2006) and Riyadh Declaration (2010). Late Saudi King Abdullah
became the first head of House of the Saud to visit India in 51 years as the
chief guest for Republic Day parade in 2006. In 2006, both countries signed a
MoU to actively cooperate in combatting crime including fighting against
terrorism, extremism and criminal elements. Later in 2010 Prime Minister Man
Mohan Singh on his visit to Saudi Arabia reviewed implementation of Delhi
Declaration and formally elevated the ties to a strategic partnership
encompassing security, defence and political areas and signed the Riyadh
Declaration in 2010. Living up to the objectives of cooperation on counter
terrorism, Saudi Arabia deported Syed Zaibuddin Ansari aka Abu Jundal, a master
mind of 26/11 Mumbai attacks and 2010 Pune attacks to India in 2012. In
December 2015, Saudi has deported a LeT terrorist Mohammed Asadullah Khan. More
recently in February it handed over Mohammud Abdul Aziz, the kingpin of the
jihadist movement in Hyderabad. In a major boost to the Indo-Saud relations, in
August 2015, Indian Air Force made an inaugural staging at the King Fahad airbase
in Taif, en route UK for a multinational exercise. Modi as a mark of
respect declared a day of mourning when King Abdullah died in January 2015
striking a unique chord with Saudi Arabia. When India staged Operation Rahat to
evacuate Indians from the war struck Yemen, Saudi regime extended exemplary
support to India facilitating the safe evacuation of around 5000 people. In an
effort to give impetus to the theme of Connecting Asia espoused at the Raisina
Dialogue, Indian Foreign Secretary reiterated India’s commitment of matching
the “Act East” with “Think West” initiative.
Modi’s visit to Riyadh comes at a time when the region is
thrown into chaos, turmoil and despair. Entire Middle East is going through a
phase of intense turbulence due to Syrian crisis, Yemen war, plummeting oil
prices and intense rivalry between Saudi and Iran along sectarian lines. Middle
East has become region of intense diplomatic activity of late, with President
Xi Xinping touring Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia. This was followed by
Pakistan’s Prime Minister and Army Chief Visit to Saudi Arabia and Iran. Modi’s
perfectly timed bilateral visit infused fresh energy and momentum into the
Indo-Saud relations. India’s aspirations of connecting to West Asia is in line
with Saudi Arabia’s looking east policy. Plunging global oil prices,
diminishing oil demand and the huge financial encumbrance of funding wars
against Yemen and Syria gobbled up much of Saudi’s petro dollars. Saudi Arabia is distraught over US
retrenchment, following its energy self-sufficiency, thanks to the shale gas
revolution. Riyadh is puzzled over its traditional ally’s embrace with its
adversary Iran. With traditional alliances in the region going through major
flux, Middle East is virtually on its own and desperately seeking new
opportunities to refurbish. Stung by the economic depression of 2008, major
European countries failed to recover financially. Bracing stagnant economic
growth, European nations ceased to be oil guzzlers. Saudi Arabia is now looking
for the East Asian countries whose economic engines are rolling and are oil
thirsty. Sinking oil prices brought about a paradigm shift in Saudi’s strategic
thinking which is keen on investing huge amounts of sovereign funds in
developing economies. Besides, Saudi Arabia is bearing brunt of patronizing the
Wahhabi culture and the growing concerns of terrorism is keeping it on
tenterhooks. Rise of IS (Islamic State) is threatening the Arab monarchies.
Simultaneously, any disaster overwhelming the Middle East has
huge repercussions on India as energy flows, remittances, livelihoods of
millions of Indian Diaspora will be threatened. Overpowering the incipient
strategic inhibitions, Modi cogently sealed cooperation with Saudi Arabia on
three issues - counter terrorism, energy cooperation, economic and investment
ties. In his two- day long bilateral-Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Custodian
of Two Mosques in Mecca and Madina, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz issued a joint
statement that reinforced a new spirit of strong friendship. Both the
leaders emphasized on the need to consolidate bilateral strategic engagement
for “promoting peace, stability and security in the region”. They agreed to
intensify cooperation in counter-terrorism operations, cyber security and defence
cooperation by conducting joint exercises, exchange of visits of ships, aircrafts,
military personnel and experts. It was decided to convene second meeting of
Joint Committee on defence cooperation at Riyadh, to strengthen maritime
security in Gulf and Indian Ocean Region and promote collaboration for
humanitarian assistance and evacuations during emergencies. Condemning
terrorism in all forms and manifestations both parties agreed to enhance
cooperation in combatting terrorism at bilateral and multilateral level and
Saudi Arabia agreed to work towards adoption of Comprehensive Convention on
International Terrorism at UN. They affirmed that terrorism be delinked from
religion and called on all states to cut off support and finances to the terror
groups operating from their territories.
A MoU was signed between the Financial Intelligence Unit of
India and its Saudi counterpart on exchange of information with regards to
terror and crime related money laundering. Highlighting new initiatives taken
by Government of India to improve ease of doing business, Modi welcomed Saudi
Arabian companies to invest and participate in Smart Cities, Digital India and
StandUp India initiatives. A framework agreement was signed between the Saudi
Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) of and Indian Investment Authority
to facilitate investment from private sectors in both countries. Both sides
agreed to transform the energy related ties from the existing “buyer-seller
relationship” to investing together in joint ventures in various petrochemical
complexes and for jointly exploring in India, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
Both leaders stressed on the need to promote collaboration in science and
technology, renewable energy, information communication technology, space
technology, agriculture, urban development, health care and biotechnology. They
have welcomed the establishment of Joint Working Group on Consular Issues under
India-Saudi Arabia Joint Commission and signed an agreement on labor
cooperation for recruitment of general category labor. In all, 5 MoU’s were
signed and these include a MoU on technical cooperation between Bureau of
Indian Standards (BIS) and the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality
Organization (SASO) and an executive program on cooperation in the field of
handicrafts between India’s Export Promotion Council for Handicraft (EPCH) and
Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage. Modi took up the issue of
Indian workers landing in prison for petty crimes and urged the Saudi
government to sympathetically review the cases. India having emerged as one of
the fastest growing economies of the World is now looked as bright spot for
investments. Assuring a stable tax regime, Modi reiterated that retrospective
taxation is thing of past and indicated that GST will be passed soon. Modi held
talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz bin Al-Saud, Deputy
Crown Prince, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Health and Chairman of
Saudi Armaco, oil Company.
King Salman extended a Royal Welcome to Modi at Al-Yamamah
palace and as a mark of India’s growing recognition in the global realm,
conferred country’s highest civilian honor, King AbdulAziz Sash on Prime
Minister Modi. Modi gifted a gold-plated replica of the Cherman Juma-Masjid to
King Salman underlining the historical trade relations between both the
countries. The Masjid reminisced peaceful entry of Islam to India before it
touched the shores of Pakistan and represents harmonious coexistence of
different faiths in India.
Modi’s visit to the Tata Consultancy Services facility at
Riyadh run exclusively by women was initially viewed with skepticism. Conscious
of the rigid traditions in Saudi Arabia, Modi addressed the women as “harbinger
of positive force for the World”. The elated women workers expressed their
gratitude by chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Modi also met Indian Workers and
shared meals with them at the L&T workers residential complex in Riyadh.
Modi’s triumphant rendezvous with Saudi Arabia might truly
intimidate Pakistan for reveling in the pride of being a Jihadi gateway. On the
contrary, India having emerged as one of the promising economies is a favored
investment destination leaving Islamabad to roil in its self-imposed
imperceptible conundrum. The volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia, a mere $6 billion pales against the economic activity between
India and Saudi Arabia which stands at $39 billion. By sledging development and
aggressively nurturing extremism, Islamabad is now infamous as a terror haven.
While Islamabad anticipates to garner support from West Asia by playing Islam
card, disoriented developmental goals may leave it rudderless.
The impetus of Modi diplomatic engagement has been
spearheading India’s strategic interests. Raising above traditional moral
posturing characteristic of Indian foreign policy, Modi strengthened political
and security engagement with Saudi Arabia. By precariously balancing India’s
ties with Saudi Arabia and Iran, Modi exuded diplomatic acumen. While Modi
revved up energy cooperation with Saudi, Oil Minister Dharmesh Pradhan will be
visiting Tehran facilitating ONGC’s participation in developing Farhad-B gas
field and to discuss investment projects at Chahbahar port. This will be soon
followed by Sushma Swaraj’s visit pushing for political ties. Prime Minister in
fact initiated India’s bilateral engagement with Iran when he met Iranian
President Rouhani along the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) at Ufa, Russia last year. While Pakistan floundered its Muslim ideologue,
by dallying with its arch-rival Iran and by staying away from the Operation
Decisive Storm, led by Saudi Arabia, India has clearly scored a brownie point.
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