Saudi Arabia, India ink several MOUs during Crown Prince's State visit

India and Saudi Arabia signed a host of MOUs in various sectors namely IT, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and human resources. Proposals on trading in national currencies were exchanged between the two countries writes Chandrakala Choudhury.

New Delhi: Several agreements were signed between India and Saudi Arabia in the fields of Information Technology (IT), agriculture, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, human resources and others on Monday.

The MoUs were signed between private companies of both the countries namely Serum Institute of India, HP, VFS Global, and ICICI Bank. The signing of the MoUs was facilitated by Invest India and Saudi Arabia's investment ministry.

The signing of the agreements took place during the State visit of Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, who recently participated at the two-day G20 summit in New Delhi.

The Saudi Crown Prince arrived in Delhi for his State visit on Saturday and stayed back after the summit. In a brief statement, Prince Mohammed bin Salman congratulated India for a successful G20 presidency. "Well done India, a lot of announcements were made that will benefit both our countries along with all the G20 countries and the entire world. So I want to say to India well done, and we will work to create a future for both countries" he said.

Earlier today, the Saudi Crown Prince was accorded a ceremonial reception at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The ceremonial welcome was followed by a bilateral talk between the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Secretary (CPV & OIA), Ausaf Sayeed said that India and Saudi have already begun discussions on trading in national currencies. Also, proposals and concept notes were exchanged in this regard.

“The two sides have started discussing this. It is only at a discussion stage and proposals and concept notes have been exchanged. The Saudi side is aware that we have worked out similar arrangements with other countries in the region," Sayeed said.

In recent times, India has taken substantial steps to promote the usage of its national currency, the Indian rupee, in international transactions. Collaborating with banks from 22 countries, India has established special rupee vostro accounts in domestic banks, facilitating trading in national currencies.