Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Jeddah this afternoon for a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia. During the visit, both countries are set to sign agreements in the areas of economic and defense cooperation. In the evening, the Prime Minister will have a meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince. Discussions will also cover topics like Hajj, the India-Europe Corridor, and Gaza. Various agreements and memorandums of understanding will be signed during the talks with the Saudi Crown Prince.
The Prime Minister is visiting at the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Modi is expected to arrive in Jeddah at 3:00 PM Indian time. After the reception, he will meet with invited members of the Indian community.
This visit marks Modi’s first trip to Saudi Arabia as Prime Minister since taking office for the third time. Along with Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, and an eleven-member high-level delegation will also visit Jeddah today.
It is the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Jeddah in four decades. The last visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the city was in April 1982, when then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited. Modi had previously visited Riyadh, the Saudi capital, in 2016 and 2019, but this is his first visit to Jeddah, the commercial hub of Saudi Arabia.
