Making A Difference

A Desert Soiree

An Indian PM makes a Saudi trip after 28 long years. The lowdown.

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A Desert Soiree
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On The PM’s Agenda

  • Talk with Saudis on security; put in place mechanism for strategic dialogue
  • Hope the Saudis will have a restraining influence on Pakistan
  • Persuade the Saudis to invest in India
  • Defence cooperation could see India train Saudi naval personnel
  • Treaties on extradition, and for transfer of people sentenced to jail
  • Agreements in agriculture, science & technology, and cultural exchanges
  • A separate business delegation from India during the PM’s visit hopes to push bilateral trade which stood at $28 billion by 2008-end

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One October evening last year, India’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Talmiz Ahmad, received an unusual phone call from the Union ministry of external affairs. At the other end of the line was a very senior official, wanting to know whether Ahmad was willing to shift to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as ambassador. This was, in a way, an extraordinary request—Ahmad was less than a year away from superannuation, and the tradition is not to shift diplomats in the last months of their service. Though surprised, Ahmad said he was willing to accept the new assignment, and wondered when he’d be required to shift out from Abu Dhabi. ASAP, the caller responded.

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Ahmad’s consent received, the mea got into the act with alacrity. The order for his new appointment was promptly issued in November, and his ‘agreement’ (an official document proposing the new envoy’s name that requires the host country’s assent) was received early December. Such promptness, considered rare in diplomacy, begs the question: what was the reason for the flurry of activity between Riyadh and New Delhi?

The answer was simple: the Indian establishment wanted a competent and experienced hand to prepare for Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the oil-rich desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia, between February 27 and March 1. This will be the first prime ministerial visit to Saudi Arabia in 28 years, in itself quite surprising considering it meets 25 per cent of India’s petroleum requirements, hosts two million Indians, and has surplus cash to invest. The family of Saud is also the custodian of the holy shrines of Mecca and Medina, an aspect of special importance for the population of Muslims in India. Again, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz had been to India in January 2006, only months after his ascension to the throne. India needed to reciprocate, but among the many reasons it didn’t was because of South Block’s obsession with pushing through the nuclear deal with the United States.

Ahmad was deemed just the man to handle such a sensitive visit, having served in Saudi Arabia twice—once early in his career and later as the ambassador at the beginning of this decade. But priorities and compulsions in diplomatic relations are always defined afresh with time; what’s changed dramatically over the last three years is the political-security scenario in the region. For instance, Al Qaeda is now the common enemy of both, fanning hopes that Saudi Arabia and India would make common cause to combat the menace of global terrorism. India has always been worried about the links of Al Qaeda and Taliban to anti-India militant groups operating from Pakistan, a link thought to have become stronger and durable now courtesy the crisis of governance plaguing Islamabad over the last two years.

For Saudi Arabia too, Al Qaeda has always been a threat because one of the avowed aims of its leader and founder, Osama bin Laden, is to overthrow the House of Saud from power. It has also witnessed several bombings bearing the Al Qaeda imprint. Its activists have infiltrated neighbouring Yemen, taking advantage of the instability there. This is a situation the House of Saud can’t countenance. “There’s a common threat at the borders of both countries,” Ahmad told Outlook from Riyadh. The terror issue will perhaps emerge as the important talking point between Manmohan Singh and King Abdullah, more so as Saudi Arabia is playing a vital role in the reconciliation process with the Taliban.

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Then foreign minister Jaswant Singh with King Fahd in Riyadh

During King Abdullah’s visit in 2006, India and Saudi Arabia had signed a Delhi Declaration, initiating the beginning of a Strategic Partnership, which is likely to be formalised now. The attempt will be to put in place an architecture to conduct regular dialogue and close interaction on the crucial issue of security. Earlier, during his 2001 visit, foreign minister Jaswant Singh had sought to forge a bilateral security cooperation framework, and despite an encouraging beginning, the endeavour proved abortive. This was largely because Riyadh was focused on handling the consequences of 9/11 in which several of its nationals were implicated.

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Not only is Al Qaeda’s influence in Yemen a factor, but even the specifics of the Mumbai terror attack has brought the two sides closer. The ease with which Pakistani assailants used the sea to launch attacks has underscored to the Saudis, as also to others in the region, the security perils of having a long coastline. This is likely to lead to defence cooperation—with India training Saudi naval personnel and coastguards.

India also plans to persuade the Saudis to invest their extraordinary cash resources in India, particularly to develop infrastructure, considered imperative to sustain its impressive economic growth of 8 per cent plus. The Saudi investment in India has been parsimonious, prone as its businessmen are to concentrate on American and European markets.

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Manmohan’s visit is important also because Saudi Arabia is among the few countries to enjoy considerable influence over Islamabad. With the resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan, New Delhi hopes Riyadh will be able to convince Islamabad to choose talks as a method of resolving differences, instead of terror. Says former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh, “The Saudis are important players in the region. They are not flashy, they are more behind-the-scene players.” He points out that the Saudis played an important role in bringing Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif back into Pakistani politics. “The Pakistani leaders are very close to the Saudis, who can therefore play an important role,” adds Mansingh.

For Pakistan, issues with India run really deep. Only over the next few months can India know whether even the sage advice of the Saudis has had a salutary impact on its thinking.

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