RIYADH — The Federation of Saudi Chambers (FSC) organized on Wednesday the Saudi-Indian Roundtable meeting to review the trade and investment partnership opportunities between the two countries. The Saudi-Indian Roundtable meeting witnessed the participation of India's Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal, FSC's President Hassan Bin Mujib Al-Huwaizi, the Acting Secretary General of the FSC, Walid al-Arinan. India's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr. Suhel Ajaz Khan was also in attendance, in addition to the participation of more than 100 representatives of Saudi and Indian entities and companies. During the meeting, the Saudi and Indian sides reviewed the investment environments and opportunities in the Kingdom, and the targeted sectors in the Kingdom's Vision 2030, in addition to the participation of Indian companies in these opportunities. The economic trends and developments in India and the available opportunities there for the Saudi business owners, were also reviewed. India's Minister of Commerce & Industry indicated, during the meeting, that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman's visit to India, last September, achieved historic results in the course of relations between the two countries. India has become a unique economic and investment destination with distinct advantages for foreign investors with a large market size exceeding 1.4 billion people, he said. Goyal pointed out that India has an economic vision that aims to achieve $2 trillion annually in total exports. The Indian minister considered that Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and the economic corridor linking India, Middle East, and Europe initiative will open promising horizons for international trade and cooperation between the two countries. "The investment future between Saudi Arabia and India is large and promising," he said. He also expressed the aspiration of Indian companies to enter the Saudi market and benefit from the vast opportunities there. In turn, Al-Huwaizi indicated that India has been at the forefront of Saudi Arabia's main economic partners for more than 75 years. The Kingdom is considered India's 4th trade partner, and the 2nd largest energy supplier with a trade exchange volume of SR196 billion in 2022, achieving a growth of 51%. Al-Huwaizi praised the role of the Saudi-Indian Strategic Partnership Council, considering it a fundamental pillar and a qualitative leap in the trade and investment partnership. He also expressed his aspiration to activate the partnership between Saudi Arabia and India in several sectors, such as green hydrogen, manufacturing, energy, agriculture, food security, health, and information technology. From his side, the President of the Saudi-Indian Business Council Abdulaziz Al-Qahtani stated that the council has played an important role over 26 years in strengthening the economic relations, encouraging partnerships between the business owners in the two countries. He said that India is considered as an important market for the Saudi companies, and the opportunities for the Indian investors are very large in the Kingdom. It is noteworthy that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Federation of Saudi Chambers and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), with the aim of strengthening the economic partnerships. It also called well as the coordination and cooperation between the two federations in developing the trade and investment cooperation between the business owners and companies in Saudi Arabia and India.
