Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was welcomed with a ceremonial reception at the Presidential Palace Rashtrapati Bhawan hours after he arrived in New Delhi for a day’s visit on Tuesday evening. At the airport last evening, he was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a warm hug. The visit of “MBS”, as he is popularly known, is being closely watched after his two-day stint in Pakistan, where he praised Islamabad’s efforts for “regional peace and security” just days after a terror attack in Kashmir’s Pulwama by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad, in which 40 soldiers were killed.
- “Relations between India and the Arabian peninsula is in our DNA,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told reporters, at a time there has been criticism in India of his Pakistani sojourn.
- “India welcomes HRH Mohammed Bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. This visit will further cement relations between India and Saudi Arabia,” PM Modi tweeted this morning.
- PM Modi broke with government protocol to personally welcome the Saudi Prince; he was seen wrapping the 33-year-old in his traditional bear hug by the steps of the Prince’s plane. “A new chapter in bilateral relations,” tweeted a foreign ministry spokesperson.
- Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is accompanied by his ministers and a large business delegation. He held talks with PM Modi.
- India and Saudi Arabia are likely to issue a “strong statement on terrorism” after Wednesday’s meeting between PM Modi and the Prince. India, sources said, has a “strong, independent relationship with Saudi Arabia” and that “Pakistan should be feeling insecure, not India”.