On this special occasion of the 65th Indian Republic Day when India adopted its Constitution and became a secular democratic republic, I extend my warm wishes to all Indian citizens, Persons of Indian Origin, friends and all well-wishers of India residing in this holy land.
India and Saudi Arabia enjoy time tested centuries-old relations, which are based on mutual benefit and common understanding. These relations have been sustained over the ages not only through friendly bilateral interactions, but more importantly through very close people-to-people contacts between the citizens of the two countries.
The relations have been further cemented by the historic visits of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to India in January, 2006 and the visit of the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2010. The two important Declarations — Delhi and Riyadh Declarations — have set the tone and tenor of the relations between India and the Kingdom. The Riyadh Declaration articulates the similarity of assessment and approach of the two countries on regional and global issues, while affirming their commitments to promote bilateral ties in political security, defense and economic areas.
The past year has been a year full with hope and excitement for the Indian Diaspora in the Kingdom. The general amnesty announced by King Abdullah was a blessing for many expatriates to regularize their status, become legal workers and also to go back to their homes. Thousands of persons who were waiting for an opportunity like this could finally benefit from the general amnesty.
At the Consulate, we made elaborate arrangements for helping our nationals. On days, we have had more than 2,000 applicants approaching us and with the help of volunteers, Indian community members and our staff we could help more than 70,000 Indians to obtain exit, change their sponsors by obtaining fresh passports from us and obtain employment through numerous job fairs which we organized in the Consulate and at the International Indian School Jeddah. We issued more than 35,000 Emergency Certificates, 7,000 new passports for sponsorship change, assisted about 12,500 Indian nationals in fingerprinting and conducted more than 3 job fairs to help over 3,000 Indian workers obtain fresh employment. The staff of the Consulate General of India gave their best and were working for more than 24 hours on Tuesdays when our nationals were called for fingerprinting at the Deportation Center. This was a historic opportunity and we are proud of the fact that about 1.4 million Indians could use it to their benefit. King Abdullah, Minister of Labor Adel Fakeih, Ministries of Labor and Interior deserve our fullest praise and appreciation for taking this initiative. The massive response of the community members who came out in full strength to support their brothers and sisters in this hour of need illustrates the unity in diversity of our great nation. I also congratulate and thank many of our Saudi brothers and sisters who had come forward to help the Indian nationals regularize their status.
During 2013, under the Indian Community Welfare Fund, we assisted more than 5,000 Indians by spending more than SR1.2 million, air passage was provided to 207 stranded overseas Indians who could not afford their return tickets.
On this occasion, I would like to place on record our sincere thanks and appreciation to King Abdullah, Crown Prince Salman, the Minister of Haj Bandar Al-Hajjar, Ministry of Haj, South Asian Moassassa and other agencies for conducting a highly successful and incident-free Haj 2013. About 136,000 pilgrims from India performed Haj without any hindrance. There is absolutely no doubt that the government of Saudi Arabia leaves no stone unturned to provide best possible facilities to the Guest of Allah and continues to improve the facilities for Umrah and Haj. On our part, the Consulate General of India made elaborate arrangements for Haj and we continue to improve upon our services with a vision of doing our very best for our Hajis and make the pilgrimage as comfortable as possible for them. The government of India deployed more than 300 doctors and paramedics and about 200 administrative staff to help us during the Haj. Many volunteers take upon themselves to serve the Guests of Allah without any monetary benefit and have made a mark for themselves not only amongst the pilgrims but amongst the authorities of the Kingdom.On the bilateral front, there has been steady exchange of high level visits between the two countries both at the government and private levels. During the past year, from Saudi Arabia, the Deputy Minister of Labor for International Affairs, Dr. Ahmad Bin Fahad Al Fuhaid visited India, Sheikh Faisal Bin Abdulrahman Bin Muammar, Adviser to the King and Secretary-General of King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Center for Inter-religious and Inter-Cultural Dialogue visited India to participate in a religion conference.
The Minister of Labor Adel Fakeih visited India this year in January to sign an agreement on recruitment of domestic workers between the two countries.
From India, the Minister of State for External Affair E. Ahamed accompanied by members of Haj delegation visited the Kingdom in March 2013 for signing the Haj Agreement. A delegation consisting of Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, Minister of State for External Affairs, E. Ahamed, and Adviser to Prime Minister of India, T.K.A. Nair visited Saudi Arabia in April 2013 and met with the Saudi Labor Minister, Foreign Minister and Deputy Interior Minister. Our External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid also visited Saudi Arabia in May 2013 and met with the Crown Prince and second Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Interior Minister and Labor Minister of the Kingdom. Our Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad also led
Haj Goodwill Delegation to the Kingdom.
Trade relations continued to be on the upswing. The bilateral trade which was $25.083 billion in 2008-09 has increased to $43.783 billion in 2012-13. The last year alone saw an increase by 16.75% over 2011-12. Our exports to Saudi Arabia continued to grow at a healthy pace from $5.11 billion in 2008-09 to $9.785 billion in 2012-13 and in the period between April to September 2013, it touched $6.58 billion. Many important Indian companies are making big investments in the Kingdom. To name a few, Tata Motors has signed an MoU for building a $1.2 billion car manufacturing plant for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands in Saudi Arabia. The Gammon Group will begin work on a SR10.9 billion to design and finance a new mega city project in Rabaigh. Larsen & Toubro, one of the major engineering and construction firm has won many prestigious contracts in the Kingdom.
The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has set up a new technology and innovation center in Bangalore, with an estimated cost of $100 million. These illustrate the growing confidence amongst the business communities of the two countries. On our part, we took several initiatives to further promote trade relations, like organizing Catalogue Shows, Road Shows for India Tourism and events under the aegis of Saudi-India Business Network.
Our Consular services continued to grow. On our part, we tried to provide the best facilities in the least possible time to all Saudi and Indian nationals approaching us. We deliver around 163,000 consular services during the year, which on an average is more than 500 per working day. To promote our vibrant culture, we organized a few cultural events, including an important Calligraphy Exhibition in Jeddah during the year.
Our endeavor has been to help the large Indian community in the Kingdom and to solve their problems. An essential part of this effort is to help the Indian nationals who are in jails for years for non-payment of penalties/fines imposed as Private Rights. On our appeal, the Indian community came forward and collected more than six hundred thousand riyals and we could assist eight Indian nationals who were in jails for long periods in joining their families. I am also happy to inform that the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has launched a volunteers social security scheme, Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana (MGPSY), which provides for return and resettlement benefits, pension and life insurance coverage. It is available to the ECR category passport holders between the age of 18-50 years. The scheme would be launched very soon in the Kingdom.
Today, there are about 2.8 million Indians who are living and working in Saudi Arabia. They are considered to be one of the best communities, hard-working, law-abiding and professionally competent. I take this opportunity to thank you all for keeping this brand image intact and for strengthening the bonds between the two nations.
Jai Hind!
Faiz Ahmad Kidwai
Consul General of India
