Manmohan Singh on three-day visit to Saudi Arabia

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that he has a vast agenda for discussions with the Saudi leadership. Dr Singh left New Delhi for Saudi Arabia on Saturday on a three-day visit at the invitation of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Prior to his departure, Dr Singh said, "My visit carries special significance. I am conscious of the fact that this will be only the third visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Saudi Arabia. I, therefore, have a vast agenda for discussions with the Saudi leadership."

"My visit reflects the strong mutual desire of both countries to reinvigorate our relations, as manifested in His Majesty King Abdullah's historic visit to India in 2006 as the Chief Guest of our Republic Day celebrations," added Dr Singh. "The Delhi Declaration that we signed on that occasion constitutes a valuable blueprint for our cooperation in the future," he emphasised.

Dr Singh further said, "The Gulf region is an area of vital importance for India's security and prosperity. India and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have enjoyed special relations based on several millennia of civilizational and cultural linkages and people to people exchanges."

"The Kingdom is India's largest and most reliable supplier of our energy needs from the region. Saudi Arabia is home to an Indian community numbering about 1.8 million. As many as 165000 Indian pilgrims perform the Haj annually. Our trade and investment linkages have grown though they remain much below the potential of our two economies, and must be broad based," Dr Singh pointed out.

"I will have the honour of holding talks with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on how can we promote greater stability and security in the region, and impart a strategic character to our relations beyond the traditional areas of our cooperation." said Dr Singh.

"There is great scope for opening new frontiers of cooperation in the areas of security, defence, science and technology, space, human resoources development, and knowledge-based industries, ," he added.

He believed India and Saudi Arabia have much to gain by cooperating with each other in combating extremism and terrorism. He hoped to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and other regional issues of mutual interest.

Dr Singh said, during his visit he looked forward to addressing the distinguished members of the Majlis Al-Shura. A business delegation of CEOs is accompanying him, and he will address the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry. In addition, he will be meeting members of the Indian community.

During his visit till March 1, Dr Singh is being accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur. Other members of the Prime Minister's delegation include Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora, Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor and a number of senior officials.

Meanwhile, in his first comment on the recent foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan, Dr Singh has said there was "no alternative" to dialogue to resolve issues which "divide us" and that India was ready to discuss all matters including Kashmir in an atmosphere free from terror. Singh said India seeks "peaceful and normal relations" with Pakistan and "in that quest we have consistently sought to engage those in Pakistan who are ready to work with us."

In an interview to Saudi journalists ahead of his visit to Riyadh, he said it was in the common interest of India and Pakistan to cooperate in fighting the menace of terrorism which hurts both. "There is no change in our position... We should be good neighbours. There is no alternative to dialogue to resolve the issues that divide us," he said.

Singh was responding when asked whether the decision to have Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan reflected a change in India's stand that the stalled peace process can resume only if Islamabad acts against the planners of the Mumbai attack. To a question on talks with Pakistan, he said, "Today the primary issue is terrorism."

Asked how serious was the Pakistan Taliban threat to India, especially to Jammu and Kashmir, Singh said that as a neighbour, India could not remain immune to the rise of extremism and terrorism in Pakistan or on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan

India has refused to restart the composite dialogue with Pakistan just yet, though the government described the foreign secretary talks as "frank, constructive and useful". Stressing that the dialogue will continue, despite Thursday's fiasco of the two sides hitting a bumpy patch, Foreign minister S M Krishna said, "India's engagement with Pakistan will be predicated, as it has been since the Mumbai terrorist attack, on the response of Pakistan to our core concerns on terrorism."

Making a statement in Parliament, Krishna said the talks "should be seen in the context of government's desire to ensure communication between the two countries, to address the core concerns relating to terrorism directed against us from Pakistan".

A day after the talks, Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir called on Krishna and discussed bilateral issues for almost an hour. However, when he met National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon , Bashir was provided with a clear view of how India wanted to approach the engagement.

In his statement, Krishna said India had asked Pakistan to take effective action to ban anti-India activities of organisations such as Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

- Asian Tribune -