PM to visit Saudi next week; trade, defence deals likely

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is headed to Saudi Arabia next week — his first visit to the country in his third term.

- SHUBHAJIT ROY

PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA Modi is headed to Saudi Arabia next week — his first visit to the country in his third term. Since first assuming office in 2014, Modi has travelled there twice before — in 2016 and 2019.

Sources said that trade and investments, energy cooperation, reviving the IMEEC (India-Middle East-Europe Corridor) and defence partnership will be among the issues on the agenda for discussion when Modi visits the country on April 22-23.

Modi is expected to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah. His visit comes ahead of US President Donald Trump's expected visit to Saudi Arabia in mid-May — Trump's first foreign trip in his second term at the White House.

The visit comes at a time when the US is reaching out to Iran for talks to cap its nuclear programme, and Israel has been able to decimate Hamas and Hezbollah in the region.

The regional situation is still in turmoil, with the Houthis trying to disrupt maritime traffic on the Red Sea. India is keen to engage with Saudi Arabia and other partners in the region to restore stability.