PM Modi breaks protocol, receives Crown Prince Salman at airport

Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally received Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the airport in New Delhi on Tuesday evening, as the next in line to the throne of the oil-rich Gulf kingdom began his two-day visit to the country.

“Breaking protocol, PM @narendramodi personally receives HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as he arrives on his first bilateral visit to India!” tweeted Raveesh Kumar, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, as soon as Salman’s flight touched down at the Air Force Station in Delhi’s Palam area.

During his visit which concludes with a meeting with President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday evening, Salman is scheduled to hold discussions with Union External Affairs Minister and PM Modi as well.

Salman’s visit comes a day after he made a two-day visit to Pakistan ending Monday evening. The two sides signed MoUs with total worth $20 billion, at a time when India is trying to isolate Islamabad on the global stage in the wake of its involvement in a terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama on Feb 14.

The terror attack, claimed by Pakistan-backed and located outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), resulted in the deaths of at least 40 Indian troopers and has prompted nationwide outrage and calls for military retaliatory measures from the government.

According to various media reports, Salman returned to Saudi Arabia on Monday before embarking on a plane to New Delhi earlier in the day, as a symbolic gesture keeping in mind India’s sensitivities to de-hyphenate relations between the two subcontinental neighbours.

However, the MEA has officially refused to confirm that.

During Salman’s stay in New Delhi, India and Saudi Arabia are expected to finalise a deal to set-up a $44 billion oil refinery in Maharashtra. The oil refinery will see investments from Saudi Arabia’s state-backed oil company Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, a state-backed oil refiner in the United Arab Emirates.

According to media reports, Saudi Arabia is also expected to chip in with investments worth $1 billion in the farming sector as well as the National Investment Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), a sovereign wealth fund set-up by the government in 2015 to help with funding of infrastructure projects.

Enhanced cooperation in counter-terrorism will also feature high on the agenda, especially from India, which has bore the brunt of terror violence backed by Pakistani state actors over the last two decades.

However, it remains to be seen as to what degree will the Crown Prince agree to the views of his hosts, considering that he had also appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in countering terrorism in the joint statement issued by himself and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday.