India-Saudi relations will continue to blossom: Envoy

NEW DELHI - Saudi Arabia’s envoy to India Faisal Bin Hassan Trad hopes that the bilateral relations between the two nations “will continue to blossom” with high-level exchange of visits in near future.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of the Saudi National Day celebrations here Thursday evening, he said more Indian Muslims will be allowed to perform Haj pilgrimage this year than the last.

“The excellent bilateral relations between India and Saudi Arabia will continue to blossom. There will be an exchange of very high level delegations between the two countries in the near future,” Trad said.

The Saudi embassy in New Delhi had arranged a get-together to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s National Day. Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur was a special guest at the reception at the Taj Palace hotel. Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and MoS Railways E. Ahamed also attended the event.

Trad commended the “longstanding cordial ties” between the two countries which, he said, are “based on the brotherhood, understanding and mutual respect among leaders and people”.

The envoy said the India-Saudi relations had a long history that goes back to early times. “People to people contact between the Indians and Arabs is very old. For centuries they have been in contact for trade, culture and other exchanges,” he said.

He said that there had been a “remarkable” upswing in the volume of trade between the two countries.

Bilateral trade has grown to $28 billion as Saudi Arabia is one of the major suppliers of crude oil to India.

On the November Haj pilgrimage to Makkah and Medina, the two holy cities in Saudi, Trad said that his country would give visas to as many Indian Muslims as possible.

“Whatever our Indian friends come to us and say this is our number (of Haj pilgrims), they will get it. In fact, this year there was an increase. It is 170,000. So it is indeed an increase than last year,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s National Day dates back to 1932 when the kingdom’s founder, the late King Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman Al-Saud united the country ending a long-time dispute among various tribes and entities.

The ceremony began with the national anthems of the two countries being played out.

Trad, clad in a thawb - an ankle length gown and a keffiyeh - a large checkered square scarf held over head by a cord coil, later met the dignitaries and offered them dates before a lavish dinner.

Heads of various foreign missions in New Delhi were also present.