India to work with Saudi Arabia to enhance global oil markets’ stability

New Delhi: India has agreed to work with Saudi Arabia to enhance the stability of global oil markets and to balance global energy market dynamics, according to a joint statement issued on Wednesday.

The statement came after conclusion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabia which was cut short following the terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, where terrorists killed 26 people, mostly tourists.

“The Indian side agreed to work with the kingdom to enhance the stability of global oil markets and to balance global energy market dynamics. They emphasised the need to ensure security of supply for all energy sources in global markets. They agreed on the importance of enhancing cooperation in several areas in the energy sector, including the supply of crude oil and its derivatives,” the joint statement said. The two sides emphasised the importance of cooperation in the field of green and clean hydrogen, including stimulating demand, developing hydrogen transport and storage technologies, exchanging expertise and experiences to implement best practices.

“The two sides also acknowledged the need to work on developing supply chains and projects linked to the energy sector, enabling cooperation between companies, enhancing cooperation in the field of energy efficiency and rationalizing energy consumption in the buildings, industry, and transportation sectors, and raising awareness of its importance,” the statement said.

“The Indian side commended the kingdom’s launch of the ‘Saudi Green Initiative’ and the ‘Middle East Green Initiative’ and expressed its support for the kingdom’s efforts in the field of climate change. The two sides stressed the importance of joint cooperation to develop applications of the circular carbon economy by promoting policies that use the circular carbon economy as a tool to manage emissions and achieve climate change objectives,” it said. Both sides underscored the importance of co-operation in technology including in new and emerging domains such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, semi-conductors etc. Highlighting the importance of digital governance, they agreed to explore collaboration in this area.

“They also expressed satisfaction on signing of the MOU between Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and Communications, Space and Technology Commission of Saudi Arabia for cooperation in regulatory and digital sectors.

“Both sides also agreed to enhance cooperation in tourism including through capacity building and sustainable tourism. They also noted the expansion of various opportunities in media, entertainment, and sports, supported by the strong people-to-people ties between the two countries,” the statement said.