Saudi Crown Prince meets Modi in Argentina, plans to ramp up investments

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and told him concerning plans to rescale investments in India's school, farm and energy sectors, associate degree Indian official and therefore the Saudi press association (SPA) aforesaid on Fri.

The two leaders, WHO square measure in Argentina for the G20 summit, met within the prince's residence in capital of Argentina and mentioned Saudi Arabia's readiness to provide Republic of India with oil and crude merchandise.

The prince told Modi he would presently be finalizing associate degree initial investment in India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, a quasi-sovereign wealth fund, to assist accelerate the building of ports, highways and alternative comes, a high Indian diplomat aforesaid.

"The prince conjointly named future comes for investments, in sectors like school, energy and farm," Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, WHO is attendant Modi to the G20, aforesaid in an exceedingly readout of the meeting.

Ways during which Kingdom of Saudi Arabia might replace its agricultural imports from alternative countries with Indian agricultural turn out were conjointly mentioned, the Saudi press association aforesaid.

Since he took workplace in 2014, Modi has sought-after to expand ties with Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and alternative Islamic nations and to leverage India's aggressive economy as a sexy investment.

The meeting with the prince was Modi's 1st in an exceedingly set of "bilaterals" on the sidelines of the G20 which will be followed by conferences with U.S.A. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"We expect that within the next 2 to a few years there'll be important scaling from Saudi investments in Republic of India," Gokhale aforesaid.

Modi stressed the importance of stable energy costs and therefore the 2 leaders mentioned ways in which during which Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a high fossil oil provider, might facilitate stabilize costs, significantly for Republic of India, Gokhale aforesaid.

India, the world’s third-biggest oil businessperson, has been grappling with a mix of soaring costs and a falling currency, that makes imports of dollar-denominated oil costlier, till a recent fall in oil costs.

Saudi Arabia has told Republic of India it's committed to meeting its rising oil demand and is that the "shock absorber" for offer disruptions within the oil market.

The prince conjointly mentioned with Modi Saudi oil large Aramco's investment in refineries in Republic of India, as well as the company's project to create an outsized industrial plant on the western coast of Republic of India, SPA said.

The two leaders conjointly explored investment in solar power through Softbank's Saudi-backed Vision Fund and opportunities to export Saudi non-oil merchandise to Republic of India.