Following Doval Visit, PM Modi To Attend Investor Summit In Saudi Arabia This Month

In a bid to deepen India's ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi will be visiting Riyadh later this month to attend the Future Investment Summit and further bilateral cooperation, reports The Times of India.

The announcement of Modi's visit to KSA and his meeting with Crown Prince of the kingdom, Mohammed bin Salman comes just days after the National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval visited Riyadh and met with the Crown Prince. The meeting between the two is said to have lasted a strong two hours.

The expanding Indian engagement with KSA has been aimed at helping India benefit from the economy of the middle eastern nation which has been aiming to diversify from excessive oil dependency.

Furthermore, India's deepening of relationship with KSA is also aimed at constraining Pakistan's influence among the Islamic nations. It should be noted that despite repeated calls and visits from Pakistan's PM Imran Khan and his foreign minister and other officials, KSA has not taken an anti-India position on recent developments in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir with respect to abrogation of Article 370.