King Salman and Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

:: Saudi Arabia and India have renewed pledges to boost bilateral economic, investment and trade cooperation following talks between King Salman and Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at Al-Yamamah Palace on Sunday.

“King Salman and the Indian minister discussed bilateral relations and ways of developing and enhancing them in various fields,” said an SPA report.

Jaitley also attended a meeting with a large number of top-notch Saudi businessmen at the Council of Saudi Chamber (CSC), where he was received by Ahmed Sulaiman Al-Rajhi, CSC chairman.

“The progressively growing cooperation between the Kingdom and India in the fields of trade and commerce; and how to strengthen trade ties; figured prominently in the meeting,” said a CSC statement. Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth-largest trading partner besides being a major energy supplier to India. The volume of two-way trade between the two countries exceeded $25 billion in 2016-17.

Dr. Saud M. Al-Sati, the Saudi ambassador to India, told Arab News: “The Saudi-India Joint Ministerial Commission’s (JMC) meeting will be held here on Monday.” The JMC, in which many top Saudi and Indian officials will participate, will chalk out a plan to cooperate with each other for economic development, he added. This 12th JMC will be co-chaired by Dr. Majed Al-Qasabi from the Saudi side and Jaitley for India.

The meeting will focus on enhancing bilateral cooperation, knowledge exchange and economic ties between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia and India enjoy cordial and friendly relations and have forged closer strategic ties. The visit of King Salman to India, as crown prince in 2014, further deepened the relations between the two countries. Moreover, the recent visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2016 is seen as a turning point in the growing engagement between the Kingdom and India.