On the joyous occasion of the 72nd Republic Day of India, I would like to extend my warm greetings and felicitations to all Indian nationals, Persons of Indian Origin, and friends of India in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Republic Day reminds us of the values enshrined in our Constitution, which came into effect on Jan. 26, 1950, declaring India as a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic. The Constitution of India can be construed as a multicultural document, drafted by members who were drawn from different regions, religions, socio-economic backgrounds, and across the rural-urban divide. India, which is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, has always absorbed and amalgamated newer ideas, and customs, and traditions, in the process diversifying and enriching its own culture and emerging as a modern, forward-looking country that boasts of an inclusive and plural society, providing equal opportunities for all its citizens. As the world becomes more and more globalized and inter-connected, India stands tall as a country having a global outlook with its belief in transparency, openness, and market principles, and its eagerness to share its knowledge and resources with the rest of the world. India has been at the forefront of the new economic resurgence in Asia with its economy growing at an average annual rate of around 7% during the last decade. The year 2020 was undoubtedly a difficult year for the global economy owing to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which also led to a ‘technical recession' in India and the contraction of its economy by around 7.7% during 2020-21. Fortunately, India's economy is now on a recovery track backed by the revival in the demand for consumer goods, high manufacturing activity, and the major economic stimulus package of $266 billion extended by the government of India in key growth-focused projects, besides implementing bold economic reforms. The rollout of the biggest COVID vaccination campaign in the world earlier this month has also sent comforting signals to global investors. Despite the pandemic, the total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into India were a record $50 billion, including inflows worth over $20 billion in the capital markets, making India one of the two emerging markets to see positive inflows even during the pandemic. India appears to be moving on the path to reclaiming its title as the world's fastest-growing major economy with London-based data and analytics firm GlobalData projecting a GDP growth rate of 9.7% during 2021. Other business entities have forecast a GDP growth rate as high as 10-12% for India, while the World Bank has conservatively projected that India's GDP growth is expected to recover to 5.4% in 2021. On the global front, India has joined the UN Security Council as a Non-Permanent Member with effect from Jan. 1, 2021. India has also assumed the presidency of BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). As part of these new multilateral responsibilities, India will play a responsible role and give priority to issues such as promoting inclusive solutions to international peace and security, giving an effective response to international terrorism, tackling climate change, promoting sustainable development, and supporting the evolution of human-centric technologies. India remains committed to reformed multilateralism, a rules-based international order, and a fair and equitable international system. On climate change, India is not only on track to achieve its Paris Agreement targets but is expected to exceed them. India's emission intensity has been reduced by 21% over 2005 levels while its solar capacity has grown from 2.63 GW in 2014 to 36 GW in 2020. India's renewable energy capacity is the fourth largest in the world and is expected to reach 175 GW by the end of 2022 as part of its ambitious target of achieving 450 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. On the bilateral front, the India-Saudi Arabia relations have evolved into a Strategic Partnership. The formation of the Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) as the highest bilateral mechanism between the two countries in October 2019 marks a new era of understanding, convergence, and collaboration. Our Strategic Partnership is centered around Political, Security & Strategic Cooperation, Defence Cooperation, Energy Security, Food Security, Economic Cooperation, mutually beneficial Investments, Healthcare, Technology, Cultural Cooperation, and people-to-people engagement. Saudi Arabia is India's fourth-largest trade partner after the USA, China, and the UAE. The bilateral trade was put at $33 billion during 2019-20, which included India's imports from the Kingdom valued at $26.84 billion and India's exports to the Kingdom worth $6.25 billion. From the Saudi perspective, India is Kingdom's second-largest trade partner after China. India is the sixth major source for Saudi imports and the second biggest destination for Saudi exports. The Kingdom remains India's dependable partner for energy security catering to 18% of its crude oil and 30% of its LPG needs. Continuing the trend of getting the largest number of licenses for new foreign projects in the Kingdom during 2019, the Indian companies dominated the new licenses issued by the Ministry of Investment from June to September 2020 by bagging 30 out of 306 licenses. The cumulative Indian investments in the Kingdom now exceed $1.5 billion. On the Saudi side, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced an investment of $1.5 billion into Reliance's Jio Platforms in June 2020. The Kingdom looks upon India as a favored destination for investments particularly in the areas of high technology, telecom, Artificial Intelligence, Start-Ups, Logistics, and e-Commerce. The Embassy has recently relaunched the Saudi-India Business Network (SIBN) and the Indo-Saudi Medical Forum (ISMF). I believe these two organizations would work hand-in-hand with both the governments as well as the trade and industry bodies to promote closer economic cooperation between the two countries. By virtue of its geostrategic location and with the presence of a strong maritime force, India has been at the forefront in promoting maritime safety and security in the Indian Ocean Region. Indian Navy has been deploying ships for Anti-Piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden since 2008. India has also commenced Maritime security operations in the Gulf of Oman since June 2019. India has also been hosting several plurilateral and bilateral naval exercises and taking several initiatives towards increasing the Maritime Domain Awareness and rendering Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), on many occasions as the First Responder. The first-ever visit of the Indian Chief of Army Staff Gen. M.M. Naravane to the Kingdom in December 2020 has thrown open new vistas of Defence Cooperation between the two countries in the fields of joint military exercises, sharing of military intelligence, cybersecurity, combating terrorism, maritime cooperation and training and capacity building. Healthcare is another area of importance in our bilateral cooperation under the Strategic Partnership Council. The two countries are under discussion to conclude a new MoU on Health Cooperation, replacing an earlier MOU that was signed in 2006. India has offered to assist the Kingdom in procuring 10 million doses of Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being developed by the Serum Institute of India. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for managing the COVID-19 pandemic very effectively. The Kingdom has demonstrated that the health and welfare of all its residents is a top priority for the Saudi government which had undertaken all necessary measures to control the spread of the pandemic. I would also like to commend the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its leadership for the tremendous success of the historic G20 Summit held virtually in Riyadh despite the constraints imposed by the COVID pandemic. The holding of the GCC-India Ministerial meeting on Nov. 4, 2020, was another important diplomatic engagement during this period. The two sides pledged to work together to promote peace and stability at the international level and further enhance the bilateral trade by negotiating a Free Trade Agreement between India and the GCC. The world's largest repatriation mission carried out by India called the 'Vande Bharat Mission' has facilitated the travel of over 4.5 million Indian nationals and others from across the world. In Saudi Arabia, the Embassy was able to repatriate over 300,000 Indian nationals to their homes in India. This was the biggest such repatriation exercise handled by the Indian Mission in Riyadh in its history. I whole-heartedly thank all the Indian organizations and community volunteers who have extended a critical helping hand in this process. I would like to avail of this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman for ensuring the welfare of all residents in the Kingdom, including Indian nationals during these difficult times and for their strong support to elevate the bilateral relations in all domains. Long live India-Saudi Relationship! Dr. Ausaf Sayeed
