"They don't follow what western or eastern countries want": Saudi analyst lauds India's foreign policy

By Ayushi Agarwal
New Delhi [India], March 4 : Hailing India's independent foreign policy, a researcher and political analyst from Saudi Arabia said he admired how New Delhi holds its national interests as paramount and does not yield to pressure from the western or eastern powers when it comes to shaping its external affairs policies.
"One of the things I would love to mention is the thing that I admire the most with regards to the new face of the external affairs policies of India,. It is the fact that they don't follow what the western or eastern countries want and that's something that has been encouraged definitely by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia because we believe and practise sovereignty as any other free country does," said Salman Al- Ansari in an interview with ANI on Friday.
Speaking on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and India's stance on the same, the analyst said both Riyadh and New Delhi consider themselves as equalizers.
He further stated that at this time, neither country wants escalation of conflicts and are, instead, all for working to bring the conflicting parties to the negotiating table, which is instrumental and crucial for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the heart of the Arab and Muslim world, and also for India, which "is considered to be the superpower in the whole world".
"I think Saudi Arabia and India, both these nations consider themselves to be equalizers, rather than taking sides in this (Russia-Ukraine) conflict. There is no doubt that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a disastrous move. There's no doubt that most of the world's nations were against this move and Saudi Arabia, and India has all voiced their concerns in that regard. But at the same time, we do not want to be in a position where we take sides, because at this critical moment, you don't need to have more escalation. All that we are looking for is to deescalate and the Indian government has been a key broker for peace in this conflict," added Salman.
Reacting to the comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday, the analyst said that he saw his point when the Russian leader talked about the provocations of the West and expansion of NATO. "We understand these things. But at the same time, we cannot take these provocations as justification for that grand scale invasion," he added.
On the disruption in the global supply chain, including oil and food, the analyst said it is not in the interest of Saudi Arabia to have high or low oil prices.
"Saudi Arabia has been very interested in having a secured and stable oil market and it's not in our interest to have high or low prices. So, that has been actually transmitted and shown through the OPEC decision and OPEC plus decisions and at the end of the day, the Indian economy and the Saudi economy, I think for the next decade and two and three decades thereafter, will always be linked in a harmonious way where we both complement each other in such a manner that can build our economies," added Salman Al- Ansari.
On the blossoming bilateral ties between Riyadh and New Delhi, the analyst said he was happy to see the progress made by the two countries across diverse fields and that Saudi-India relationship is "very important for global peace and economic prosperity".
"I'm so happy to see the progress (in bilateral ties) in so many domains and fields. With regards to the Saudi-India relationship, there is no doubt that it is a historic one. We are not speaking of a couple of hundreds of years of relationship. We are speaking of more than two millennials, we are speaking of more than 2,000 years of relationship between the Arabs and the Indian civilisation," said Salman.
"Prince Faisal Bin Farhan (the Saudi Foreign minister) was invited to speak at the G20 Summit here and along with (EAM) Jaishankar here in New Delhi, they discussed major issues, including global conflicts, energy policy with regards to climate change and so many other issues of mutual interest. So, I think the Saudi-India relationship is on the right track," he added.