SME Times News Bureau | 23 Feb, 2018
India
and Saudi Arabian trade minister Thursday 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.