Manmohan Singh seeks Saudi investment to drive India's growth story

Confident that India's GDP will grow at 9% to 10% annually in next 25 years, prime minister Manmohan Singh today sought Saudi investment in sectors ranging from infrastructure to hospitality as the country aspires to be one of the largest economies of the world.

There is vast potential for cooperation between the two countries based on their inherent strengths and complimentarities, he said addressing the Majlis-al-Shura or the Saudi Consultative Council here.

"In the next 25 years, we aspire to growth rates of between 9% to 10%annually. This will enable us to lift millions of people out of poverty and to transform Indian into one of the largest economies of the world. India looks to the future with confidence and hope," Singh said.

He said despite the global economic slowdown, India hopes to achieve a growth rate of about 7.5% in the current financial year. "Over the last five years, our economy has grown at an average annual rate of 9%."

He sought Saudi investment "in a range of sectors from infrastructure and manufacturing to the services hospitality"
and said Indian industry is also ready to take advantage of
the many opportunities that are opening up in the IT, banking,
telecommunication, pharmaceutical and hydrocarbon sectors in
Saudi Arabia.

Indian investments into the kingdom stand at more than USD two billion, covering over 500 joint ventures. 

Singh pointed out that the kingdom is one of India's major trading partners and the bilateral trade have registered unprecedented growth in recent years, standing at over USD 25 billion in 2008-09.

"We are looking at ways of means of expanding our traditionally strong collaboration in the energy sector."

Singh, who is on a three-day visit to the oil-rich kingdom, also did some hard selling while addressing the influential Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry yesterday.

He had said the "conditions are ripe" for moving beyond a traditional buyer-seller relationship to a comprehensive
energy partnership.

Energy cooperation between the two countries has witnessed a massive increase since King Abdullah's Delhi visit in 2006, with Saudi exports jumping from USD 500 million that year to USD 23 billion in 2008, surpassing Iran as the largest supplier of crude oil to India.

Saudi Arabia had yesterday said it will double the supply of crude oil to India to around 40 million metric tonnes (MMT) per annum.

In the Riyadh declaration issued after the meeting between Singh and the Saudi King last night, the two sides had emphasised the importance of developing a broad-based economic partnership and stressed on augmenting the flow of investments  into each other's countries.

In this regard, the two leaders invited the private sector in the two countries and the Saudi India Business  Council to increase their efforts to take advantage of the investment opportunities.

The two leaders further emphasised "the importance of strengthening the strategic energy partnership based on
complimentarity and interdependence, as outlined in the Delhi
Declaration (of 2006), including meeting India's increasing
requirement of crude oil supplies, and identifying and
implementing specific projects for cooperation including in
the areas of new and renewable energy."

India invited Saudi Arabia to participate in crude storage facilities in India. The two leaders directed the Joint Working Group on Energy to continue adopting all appropriate means to achieve the same, the Riyadh Declaration said.