Unprecedented welcome for PM in Saudi Arabia

**AasimB** · 28-02-2010, 01:50 PM

Such a nice gesture by Saudi Government! we are all surprised.

According to official sources, no foreign dignitary has ever been accorded such a welcome.

The Prime Minister and his delegation will also be staying in a palace that has never been opened before and certainly not to any visiting foreign dignitary - the King Saud Guest Palace.

Its common to respect INDIANS more than others, because of honesty and intellect, but this one is just so sweetttt...

Most of people in India may be surpised by this, but I am here for 8 years, most of time when govenment official see me and ask my IQAMA (Residence permit) they ask HINDI? (meaning are you Indian?) I nod and they say good by THUMBS UP.

I would like to add a point I will be happy if PM takes up couple of issues our poor labour face in Immigration and other such issues.

**AasimB** · 28-02-2010, 01:59 PM

As a concerned for both countries I would try to volunteer to keep you informed.
This visit is going to have very very BIG Impact.

**AasimB** · 28-02-2010, 01:59 PM

Saudi Arabia, with its close ties with Islamabad, could be a "valuable interlocutor" in improving India's ties with Pakistan, India's Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said in Riyadh on Sunday.
"We feel Saudi Arabia has a long and close relationship with Pakistan and that makes Saudi a more valuable interlocutor to us," Tharoor told Indian journalists.
He was responding to a question on whether India will seek Saudi Arabia's support to influence Pakistan to address India's concerns over terrorism emanating from Pakistani territory.
Tharoor added that Saudi Arabia has its own issues with Al-Qaeda.
"We expect to have a constructive conversation on the issue. The tentacles of terror have already spread from Afghanistan to Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, and latest is Yemen," he added.
Saudi Arabia, the Gulf's most influential country, was the first to recognise the then Taliban regime in Kabul in the mid-nineties and enjoys enormous leverage with Pakistan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is currently on a three-day trip to Riyadh, a path-breaking visit that is likely to see the signing of an extradition treaty paving the way for greater counter-terror cooperation between the two countries.

**AasimB** · 28-02-2010, 02:00 PM

Saudi-Indian ties

THE three-day visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the Kingdom is as welcome as it is overdue.
Both countries have much in common. Each has been undergoing far-reaching changes and each has set out to assert a high-profile role on the world stage, for instance as members of the G20. Meanwhile, since the end of the Cold War, the world around us has changed, offering new challenges, not least the evil of terrorism, as well as new opportunities, in terms of both trade and diplomacy.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s 2006 visit to India was designed to lay the foundation of a new relationship, which would dispel past suspicions and explore ways in which India and the Kingdom could work together. Now Premier Singh is visiting us and the significance of his trip is underlined by the fact that it is the first time in 28 years that an Indian leader has made the journey to Riyadh.
Therefore, high hopes rest on the renewal of what has been a historic relationship reaching back several centuries. Saudi Arabia’s trading importance to India extends beyond the fact that we supply a quarter of India’s oil needs. Our non-oil exports have grown strongly in recent years. As India’s spectacular economic growth continues, Saudi capital can help finance new ventures.
Indian exports to the Kingdom have, meanwhile, been coming close to doubling year on year and at the end of 2008 stood at more than $3.7 billion. Clearly we have much to gain from India’s burgeoning IT and high technology sector. With world-class facilities such as King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), the opportunities for much closer cooperation, not least on advanced research, are obvious. Boosting trade and technology exchanges between friendly nations is, however, relatively simple. Creating trust at a diplomatic level requires something more. Both India and Saudi Arabia have experienced the scourge of international terror and are watching with concern as the region now grapples with the hydra of extremism. A stable Pakistan is a key to wider regional security and indeed prosperity. The inconclusive end to last week’s talks between India and Pakistan was, therefore, a disappointment to all parties. The important factor is, however, that both New Delhi and Islamabad are talking again and in doing so recognize that it is only through negotiations, however long and hard, that a lasting settlement of their differences will be ironed out.
It is certain that during his visit Manmohan Singh will be offered by the king and his government whatever help they can to ease this difficult but extremely important rapprochement.
Whatever other agreements come out of the Indian leader’s visit to us, it must be hoped that he will leave with the conviction that Saudi Arabia really is willing and anxious to play its part in promoting cordial relations between India and its neighbors. This reciprocal top-level meeting will ideally complete the foundation of trust, which will now allow Saudi and Indian ministers, diplomats and businessmen to build up a new and deeper relationship

**AasimB** · 28-02-2010, 02:03 PM

These days everywhere in Riyadh we see only SAUDI & INDIAN flags.
There are littelry thousands of Indian Flags flying in Riyadh. Two on each street light.