The likelihood of signing an India proposed Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with Saudi Arabia during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Riyadh this weekend (Feb 27-Mar 1) signals of a bilateral relationship that has come of age since the time it was seen through the prism of ties between Riyadh and Islamabad. India and Saudi Arabia now hope to put in place institutionalized dialogue to promote mutual interest in foreign affairs, intelligence, defense and energy.
The modalities of this treaty are being finalised ahead of the Manmohan’s visit that will be the first by an Indian PM since Indira Gandhi’s trip in 1982. Manmohan Singh’s visit had to be postponed twice in the past, first time due to the G-20 meeting in Washington in November 2008 and for the second time because of his cardiac surgery in January 2009.
New Delhi and Riyadh has been engaged in counter-terror cooperation since Saudi King Abdullah’s historic visit to Delhi in 2006, when he was the chief guest for India’s Republic Day celebrations. The Saudi intelligence chief visited India in the aftermath of 26/11 to discuss terror in the region. New Delhi has been pushing for a comprehensive agreement with Riyadh following such an arrangement with the United Arab Emirates to plug holes in the underworld network that perpetrates crimes in the country, including terror attacks.
A highlight of the visit will be Singh’s address to the Shoura Council (Consultative Assembly) on March 1, a rare honor for a visiting foreign dignitary. It will mark an important chapter in bilateral ties that was launched with King Abdullah’s visit.
Another agreement that will be inked during the visit, among nine pacts, is an Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners. Nearly 700 Indians are serving sentence in Saudi Arabia while another 700 are under trial. Indians accounted for a very less percentage of those held for crimes in the Gulf Kingdom and the majority of offences against them were lack of proper documents or carrying drugs. Saudi Arabia is hosting more than 1.7 million Indian workers and ignorance of the procedures, besides widespread cheating of agents, was the reason for most of the legal problems.
Besides security issues, India is keen to attract Saudi investments, which have so far been parked in the US and European countries. Saudis and other Gulf states are looking for alternate markets for investments in view of uncertain future of western markets following recent recession. New Delhi and Riyadh will sign an agreement to set up a Joint Investment Fund with a corpus of 750 million dollars, for which Saudi Arabia will contribute 500 million dollars and India the remaining. The fund will be utilised for infrastructure development. As India woos the Gulf nations to invest in its emerging market, it is keen for Saudi investment in the country’s booming infrastructure sector. A strong business delegation will be accompanying Manmohan Singh to Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia has witnessed a massive jump in energy exports from $500 million in 2006 to $23 billion in 2008 and discussions were underway for joint investments by Indian and Saudi Arabian companies in energy sector. There is also a proposal for setting up an office of Saudi petro giant Aramco in India. Saudi Arabia had replaced the UAE as the prime source for India’s crude oil import and India now imports US $ 23.5 billion (or close to 600,000 barrels a day) worth of oil from Riyadh. India, in turn, is the fourth largest importer of Saudi oil — after China, the US and Japan. The "Delhi Declaration" signed during the King’s visit in 2006 called for closer economic engagement and energy partnership. The latter will remain a critical component of the relationship in the years ahead.
Indian companies are interested to invest in Saudi energy sector. India wants a level-playing field for its companies to compete with others and seeks equal opportunities that Saudis so far reserved to selected few from the US and China. India makes its plea on the basis of its primary sourcing of oil from Saudis and proven technological capabilities of its companies, which are already working in a number of companies in the energy sector.
After a long spell of sour relations, the two countries are realizing their mutual potential to draw benefits for each other and are looking up to course correction. Cold war conditions and its close relations with Pakistan have hindered Saudis and Indians to have purposeful relations. Since mid-80s, Pakistan literally hijacked the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Countries), with Saudis leaving the field wide open to Islamabad for India-bashing, which began souring relations. India’s ambiguous stance on the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent developments antagonised the Saudis, who saw themselves as the next target of Saddam Hussein’s expansionist ambitions. Babri Masjid demolition in India in 1992 complicated issues further. While India’s establishment of diplomatic ties with Israel came in a positive atmosphere of PLO’s own recognition of the Jewish state as part of the Oslo accord, further complications in implementation of the accord made things worse in the Middle East and the fact of India’s growing ties with Israel were exploited by Pakistan to rub salt into the already sour relations between India and the Arab world. India wants a course correction at the OIC level as well. It would like Saudi Arabia to restrain Pakistan `hijacking’ the Islamic organization with wild allegations of `human right’ violations against Muslims in India in general and Jammu and Kashmir in particular.
New Delhi also wants Riyadh to keep an eye on sizable funds that are transferred to charitable bodies in India, a big portion of which is suspected by officials to be routed to institutions encouraging subversive activities. India would also like an institutional arrangement to share information pertaining to terrorist financing and also have a candid discussion about the situation in Pakistan. Besides UAE, Saudi territory is used by some militants to hide after committing terrorist activities in India. UAE, which has an extradition treaty with India, arrested and handed over underworld don Aftab Ansari wanted in India for the bombing of the American Centre in Kolkata in 2002. India would like to have a similar understanding with Saudis.
Besides bilateral issues, the talks are also likely to focus on Afghanistan where both Saudis and India are major players. Saudis are helping to arrange mediatory talks with `good’ Taliban so as to assist the Americans to come to an understanding with them and bring them to a power sharing arrangement. The US is banking on Riyadh in the Taliban reintegration process. Afghan President Hamid Karzai had also asked the Kingdom to play a role. Exchange of ideas and mutual concerns would be natural in such summit talks.
Earlier Riyadh’s relations with New Delhi were affected by the 1971 Indo-Pak War, 1973 oil crisis & thereafter Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Saudi Arabia along with US and Pakistan played a crucial role in helping the Mujahideen in resisting the Soviet. India, a close ally of Moscow did not openly criticize the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Riyadh will put in place a bilateral mechanism for increased economic cooperation and assistance in security matters. It is in India’s interests to forcefully court the Arab world and address their concerns which are mainly focused on alleged `discrimination’ of Muslims, propagated by Pakistan. While India will not accept any OIC role in Kashmir, India is better advised to brief Saudi leaders on the current situation, role of Pak-based terrorist organizations and New Delhi’s latest efforts to hold talks with Pakistan on a wide ranging issues. Once these issues are addressed, there is no reason why Indo-Arab relations cannot return to their original heights as existed until early 1980s.
