EAM Jaishankar welcomes Saudi counterpart; leaders discuss Afghanistan, bilateral ties

On Sunday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar welcomed Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud, who is visiting India for the first time. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister arrived in New Delhi on a three-day visit and he will be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, September 20.

Later, the two leaders met at Hyderabad House in the national capital where they discussed the current situation in Afghanistan as well as other regional problems, according to a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs. They also discussed bilateral collaboration in multilateral venues such as the United Nations, the G-20, and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Meanwhile, EAM Jaishankar praised Saudi Arabia for its effective G-20 presidency last year, despite the pandemic of Covid-19, read the statement. 

This is Saudi Arabia's first ministerial visit to India since the COVID pandemic broke out. Both ministers talked about their bilateral relationship as well as regional and international topics of mutual concern. The two Ministers also discussed the implementation of the Strategic Partnership Council Agreement that the two countries agreed in October 2019 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Saudi Arabia and were pleased with the sessions held under the Agreement and the progress made, as per the statement. It further stated that both sides also discussed how they can improve their partnership in areas like commerce, investment, energy, defence, security, culture, consular affairs, health care, and human resources. Jaishankar also extended his gratitude to Saudi Arabia for its assistance to the Indian community during the COVID outbreak and urged the gulf country to further ease travel restrictions. 

It is worth mentioning here that Saudi Arabia, following in the footsteps of China and Pakistan, backed the Taliban's formation of an interim government in Afghanistan. On September 8, during a virtual ministerial conference focussed on the Afghanistan situation, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan extended sincere sympathies to the families of those killed in the chaos outside Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport. He called the formation of the interim government a "move in the right path" that will help the country achieve stability. He also urged the Taliban to protect Afghan lives and to give up "violence and extremism." The Foreign Minister of the Kingdom further stated that his government will assist the war-torn country in overcoming its difficulties.

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: Twitter/@DrSJaishankar