India invites Saudi investment in petrochemical projects

31 Jan '14

2 min read

The Government of India has invited investment from Saudi Arabia in the country’s petrochemical projects.

During his two-day visit to the Middle Eastern country, India’s Finance Minister P Chidambaram met the Commerce & Industry Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and discussed the importance of Saudi investment in India.

The Finance Minister presented specific projects in India, including OpaL Petrochemical Complex, Gujarat; Petrochemical Complex at Mangalore, Karnataka; Paradip Refinery/ Petrochemical Project of IOCL at Paradip; and Kochi Petrochemical Project of BPCL, a Finance Ministry statement said.

Mr. Chidambaram co-chaired the 10th India-Saudi Arabia Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) in Riyadh.

Both the Indian and Saudi Ministers called upon the public and private sectors to further enhance cooperation and build real partnerships in a manner that serves the interests of the two countries in different fields.

They also reviewed the progress in various sectors including Trade and Investment, and Textiles.

The JCM inter alia agreed on discussions on the mandatory requirement to get ‘classification’ for Indian companies to make them eligible to participate in Saudi projects, and discussions on the modalities in a time bound manner for setting up of India Saudi Investment Fund and identifying nodal points.

Both sides also decided to explore the possibility of setting up of a Business SME Task Force to come up with concrete suggestions to promote SME cooperation.

Separately, addressing the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Chidambaram recalled the increase in bilateral trade which stood at US$ 43 billion in 2013 and announced his vision to double the trade within the next five years.

He also urged Saudi businessmen to invest in infrastructure and petrochemical projects in India. It was conveyed that a major business delegation from the Council of Saudi Chambers would accompany Crown Prince His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud during his visit to India in February 2014.

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