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08:49, 20-Feb-2019
India PM Modi breaks protocol to welcome Saudi crown prince
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke with government protocol to personally welcome Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to New Delhi on Tuesday.
Ordinarily, the prime minister would not receive a foreign dignitary at the airport, but instead send an official or a junior government minister.
"A new chapter in bilateral relations," Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, posted on Twitter, hailing Modi "breaking protocol" with a photograph of the pair warmly clasping hands by the steps of the prince's plane.
Modi is due to hold talks on Wednesday with the crown prince, who has already visited Pakistan, where he also received a lavish reception.
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) talks to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman upon his arrival in New Delhi, India, February 19, 2019. /VCG Photo
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) talks to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman upon his arrival in New Delhi, India, February 19, 2019. /VCG Photo
The trip came after a bombing in the disputed Kashmir region on Thursday, which India blamed on Pakistan. Both neighbors are keen to cement ties with Saudi Arabia even as tensions between them have risen sharply.
Saudi Arabia is India's top supplier of crude oil but the two countries have expanded ties beyond energy, and their governments have agreed to build a strategic partnership, India's Foreign Ministry said last week.
During the trip, India is expecting the crown prince to announce an initial investment in its National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, a quasi-sovereign wealth fund, to help accelerate the building of ports and highways, an Indian official and Saudi state media have said.
Source(s): Reuters
,Xinhua News Agency