He will co-chair the Ministerial Meeting of the Committee on Political, Security, Social & Cultural Cooperation

S Jaishankar will travel to Saudi Arabia from September 10-12 on his maiden visit to the nation as External Affairs Minister.

During the visit, he will co-chair the inaugural Ministerial Meeting of the Committee on Political, Security, Social and Cultural Cooperation (PSSC), established under the framework of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council, with the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday.

The two Ministers will undertake a comprehensive review of the entire bilateral relationship and will discuss the progress under the four Joint Working Groups of the PSSC Committee, namely:

  • i) Political & Consular
  • ii) Legal & Security
  • iii) Social & Cultural
  • iv) Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation

The meetings of these Groups and Senior Officials (at Secretary level) have been held over the past few months. Both sides will also discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest including their cooperation at the UN, G20 and GCC, the MEA added.

EAM Jaishankar will also meet other Saudi dignitaries as well as Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf. Both sides will review the bilateral relations and discuss ways to enhance them. He will also interact with the Indian community in Saudi Arabia.

India-Saudi Arabia relations have strengthened considerably over the past few years including in political, security, energy, trade, investment, health, food security, cultural and defence fields. The top leadership of both the countries remained in close touch even during the Covid-19 pandemic.