Crown Prince Salman’s Visit to India. Abhishek Tripathi LEGAL PROFILE Thu, Feb 21, 2019, at ,05:11 PM The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of Saudi Arabia, visited India on February 19-20, 2019. At the invitation of Hon’ble Prime Minister of the Republic of India Shri Narendra Modi, and under the guidance of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud made his first official state visit to India. He was received by the Prime Minister himself at the Delhi Airport with a warm hugging gesture. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was accorded a ceremonial welcome on February 20, 2019 at the Forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi. President Kovind also hosted a banquet dinner in honour of His Royal Highness. His Royal Highness and Prime Minister had a delegation level talk on February 20 at Hyderabad House. India and Soudi Arabia share a cordial and friendly relations because of their cultural and economic relations. The cultural ties, geographical proximity and common challenges and opportunities added momentum to this robust engagement. The two sides re-affirmed their deep commitment to strengthen the ‘strategic partnership’ envisaged in the ‘Riyadh Declaration’ of February 2010 and reiterated during the visit of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, in February 2014 and the visit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia in April 2016. Both the sides also signed five agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) including deals on an investment fund and tourism. MoU on investing in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund of India. MoU on cooperation in the field of Tourism. MoU on cooperation in the field of Housing. Framework cooperation programme between Invest India and Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA). MoU for cooperation on Broadcasting for exchange of Audio-Visual Programmes. Another agreement was signed Agreement for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA) launched by Honourable Prime Minister Modi. The two sides agreed on further deepening trade and investment cooperation between the two countries by aligning the Kingdom’sVision 2030 and its 13 Vision Realization Programs with India’s flagship initiatives of “Make in India”, “Start Up India”, “Smart Cities”, “Clean India”, and “Digital India”. The Saudi side expressed its readiness to attract Indian private/ public sector investments and expertise, in the upcoming mega projects in Saudi Arabia. The two sides acknowledged positive transformation of economies of India and Saudi Arabia. The Prime Minister welcomed the announcement of His Royal Highness to invest in the areas of energy, refining, petrochemicals, infrastructure, agriculture, minerals and mining, manufacturing, education and health potentially worth in excess of $100 billion . Both sides agreed to expedite the implementation of the first Joint Venture West Coast Refinery and Petrochemical Project estimated to cost USD 44 billion. In addition, investments of USD 10 billion through the Public Investment Fund and other investments opportunities worth USD 26 billion are expected. The two sides expressed to grow bilateral trade in the energy sector, acknowledging Saudi Arabia as the world’s most reliable supplier of oil & gas and the key supplier to India. They stressed on continuation of the India-Saudi Arabia Energy consultations. They welcomed the recent developments in India-Saudi co-operation in the defence sector, especially after signing of MoU on Defence Cooperation during the visit of His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to India in February 2014. Both sides agreed to explore opportunities for cooperation in the area of payment systems including RuPAY for the benefit of Indian community in general and particularly the Hajj or Umrah pilgrims. The Prime Minister thanked the Crown Prince for sorting the issue of "Iqamah” for the Indian Labour who were stranded in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia enhanced the quota for Hajj pilgrims from India to 200000 to reflect the latest census. Prime Minister expressed his thanks to the Saudi Crown Prince for ordering the release of 850 Indian prisoners from Saudi jails. The Prime Minister and His Royal Highness condemned in the recent Pulwama terror attack on Indian security forces on February 14, 2019. Both sides called on all states to reject the use of terrorism against other countries. They stressed for early adoption of the ‘UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism’ and underlined the importance of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their organisations by the United Nations.