India’s Modi to Meet King Salman in Saudi Arabia
India-Saudi Arabia expected to finalise a refinery in the state of Maharashtra and establish a strategic partnership council.
(Bloomberg) -- India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold bilateral talks with King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on Oct. 29, where the two sides are expected to finalize a refinery in the state of Maharashtra and establish a strategic partnership council.
The refinery will be single largest greenfield refinery in India, said T.S.Trimurti, East Region Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs said in New Delhi Thursday, while Indian Oil Corporation will sign an agreement to set up retail outlets in Saudi Arabia.
Modi, who travels to Riyadh on the opening day of the three-day Future Investment Initiative -- an annual event showcasing the Kingdom’s investment opportunities -- will also hold delegation level talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The two countries will hold joint naval exercises at the end of this year and into early 2020, Trimurti said, with Saudi defense personnel receiving training in India.
Saudi Arabia had shown “understanding” regarding India’s decision to revoke the special autonomous status of the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir and implement a months-long communication and movement lockdown, Trimurti said. “Their understanding has had a salutatory affect on Pakistan.”
Kashmir Criticisms
India’s Ministry of External Affairs also called recent U.S. comments on events in India’s portion of Kashmir “regrettable.”
On Tuesday the U.S. State Department -- in its strongest comments on the matter -- expressed concerns about the ongoing detention of residents and political leaders in the troubled Himalayan region amid.
The Indian government on Aug. 5 revoked seven decades of regional autonomy in Kashmir. An internet blackout in the valley has been in place since then. Kashmir has witnessed three decades of separatist violence, supported by neighbor Pakistan, that has killed more than 40,000 people, according to the Indian government. It is at the heart of a long running dispute between New Delhi and Islamabad with both nations claiming the Himalayan territory.
It is “regrettable that a few members of Congress in U.S. used the hearing to comment” on India’s Kashmir moves, foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said, adding “it shows poor understanding of India” despite the fact that the Indian government has kept members of the U.S. updated about India’s concerns about cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, that has Islamabad’s backing.
‘Invaded and Occupied’
Kumar also repeated India’s condemnation of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s comments to the United Nations last month that India had “invaded and occupied” Kashmir.
“India has noted the Malaysian leader’s statements,” Kumar said. “It is not accurate and in keeping with facts,” he said, adding that India hoped “Malaysia will introspect.”
Since Mahathir’s comments on Kashmir Indian buyers of palm oil have been turning to Indonesia for supplies because of concerns that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will curb purchases of the vegetable oil from Malaysia.
Relations between New Delhi and Ankara have also strained over Kashmir. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s speech to the United Nations criticizing India’s decision to abrogate the region’s special status prompted Modi to cancel a planned visit to the capital, according to a news report.
To contact the reporter on this story: Archana Chaudhary in New Delhi at achaudhary2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Muneeza Naqvi
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