7th 'Future Investment Initiative' concludes in Riyadh

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal is on an official visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 24 to 25 October 2023 to participate in the 7th edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII).

The theme of 7th edition of FII:

• The theme of the 7th edition of FII is “The New Compass” which focuses on the new global order.
• The event is seeing participation from the world's leading investors, business leaders, policy makers, inventors and explorers.

Conclusion of the first day of the journey:

• In the first leg of his visit, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met with Saudi Arabia's Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih on October 24, 2023 and discussed ways to increase investment in various sectors between the two countries.
• India has received foreign direct investment of $3.22 billion from Saudi Arabia between April 2000 and June 2023.
• Bilateral trade between India and Saudi Arabia increased to $ 52.75 billion in the financial year 2022-23, while it stood at $ 42.86 billion in the year 2021-22.
• New avenues of investment were discussed with the aim of creating positive global impact and creating new frontiers of growth and prosperity.
• Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal co-chaired a conclave session with KSA Investment Minister on “From Risk to Opportunity: Strategies for Emerging Economies in the New Industrial Policy Era”.

FII Institute:

• FII Institute is a global non-profit foundation, launched by KSA. It aims to gather government and business leaders from around the world to discuss new avenues of investment with the goal of making a global "impact on humanity".
• Its four areas of focus are Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics, education, healthcare and sustainability.

Growing economic partnership with Saudi Arabia:

• Saudi Arabia is one of India's most important strategic partners. Trade between the two countries reached an all-time high of US$ 52.75 billion in FY 2022-23.

India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC):

• Cooperation between the two countries can also be seen from the establishment of India-Saudi Arabia SPC. Established in 2019, it aims to enhance relations between the two countries.
• It has two main pillars: the 'Committee on Political, Security, Social and Cultural Cooperation' and the 'Committee on Economy and Investment'.

India is the fourth country to enter into such partnership with Riyadh: 

• India is the fourth country with which Riyadh has entered into such a partnership. Earlier, Saudi Arabia had entered into such partnerships with Britain, France and China.

First summit-level meeting of SPC:

• In September 2023, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) Crown Prince, HRH Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud co-chaired the first summit-level meeting of the SPC.
• The meeting focused on important areas such as energy security, trade and investment, defense and security, health care and food security.
• The Prime Minister envisions cooperation between the world's two largest and fastest growing economies as this mutual cooperation is vital for peace and stability in the entire region.