• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a visit to Saudi Arabia from April 22-23 at the invitation of   Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

• The visit follows the State Visit of Crown Prince and Prime Minister of  Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman to New Delhi in September 2023 to attend the G20 Summit and co-chair the first meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council.

• This will be the third visit of PM Modi to Saudi Arabia. He visited the country in 2016 and 2019.

• India and Saudi Arabia share close and friendly ties with a long history of socio-cultural and trade contacts.

• As strategic partners, the two countries share strong bilateral relations across various areas including political, defence, security, trade, investment, energy, technology, health, education, culture and people-to-people ties.

• India’s relations with Saudi Arabia have evolved into a stronger and enduring partnership in the past decade, expanding into many strategic domains, with growing investment commitments, broadening of defence cooperation and intensive high-level exchanges across sectors.

• The defence ties between the two sides have been on an upswing in the last few years. India sealed its first defence contract with Saudi Arabia in February 2024.

• The state-run Munitions India Limited (MIL) signed a deal worth $225 million with Saudi authorities to supply artillery ammunition.

• It was followed by another deal worth $80 million for artillery ammunition last year.

• The visit of PM Modi will provide an opportunity to further deepen and strengthen the multi-faceted partnership, as well as to exchange views on various regional and international issues of mutual interest.

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