Saudi Crown Prince Salman arrives in India

Saudi Arabia sees India as an attractive investment hub for its business interests in Asia and seeks Indian investments in areas such as consultancy, construction, telecom, information technology and pharmaceuticals.

This will be Crown Prince Salman's second visit to India. He came in April 2010 when he was governor of Riyadh province.

An official visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Riyadh in 2010 and the Riyadh Declaration signed Feb 28, 2010, elevated the bilateral engagement to "strategic partnership" covering security, economic, defence and political areas.

“The visit is set to give a major boost to bilateral ties, as the two countries are expected to sign agreements and hold talks to boost cooperation in areas such as defence, trade, investment and energy,” said Mridul Kumar, joint secretary (Gulf) to the Ministry of External Affairs.

Saudi Arabia is India's fourth largest partner with bilateral trade of over $43 billion in 2012-13. Saudi Arabia is also India's largest crude oil supplier accounting for about one-fifth of total imports in 2012-13.

Indians form the largest expatriate community in Saudi Arabia with about 2.88 million Indian nationals working there.