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Faisal’s 1981 visit was also the first at that level since the Kingdom’s
foreign ministry was established in 1930 and sought to lower the bilateral
differences. Regional security dominated his conversation with External
Affairs Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, who referred to “a broad apprecia-
tion of each other’s role in international affairs, as well as understanding of
each other’s needs and aspirations” (India, Foreign Affairs Record 1981 ,
124). This indicated the inability of both sides to gloss over their differ-
ences over Afghanistan; if Faisal sought to convey his apprehensions over
the Soviet invasion of and regime change in that country, India could not
convince the Saudi leadership that the anti-Soviet militancy would deteri-
orate the regional security environment. This gulf was glossed over by Rao
referring to India’s “strong opposition to Israeli expansion” and its tradi-
tional support for the Palestinians (India, Foreign Affairs Record 1981 ,
125). During the visit, both sides signed the Indo-Saudi Economic
Cooperation Agreement (Annexure 3 ) which envisaged the formation of
a joint commission that would meet periodically. The first meeting was
held in October 1982 and interestingly between then and 2018 the joint
commission had met only 12 times (India, PIB 2018 ).
Once again, Prince Faisal came to India in March 1983 as the leader
of the Saudi delegation for the NAM summit which took place amidst
the ongoing Iran-Iraq War and the Afghan crisis. A vast majority of the
countries which attended the Delhi meeting were comfortable in viewing
the USSR as the ‘natural ally’ of the NAM. Hence, the Delhi summit
continued and consolidated the pro-Soviet slant on a number of issues
that affected the international situation such as nuclear disarmament,
decolonization, fight against apartheid in South Africa and of course
Afghanistan.
The most crucial moment in the bilateral relations during this period
came when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi undertook a four-day visit to
the Kingdom on 17–20 April 1982. It happened 26 years after Nehru’s
visit shortly before the Suez crisis. The Indian delegation comprised of
Finance Minister Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, Khurshid Alam Khan
(Minister of State for Tourism and Civil Aviation) and C. K. Jaffar Sharief
(Minister of State for Railways) as well as senior officials from various min-
isters, including M. H. Ansari, the future Indian ambassador to the
Kingdom and later vice-president of India (India, Foreign Affairs Record
1982 , 133–34).
Draped in her trademark Indian sari, Mrs. Gandhi adopted herself to the
needs and social norms of the Kingdom. For their part, the al-Sauds rolled
P. R. KUMARASWAMY AND MD. M. QUAMAR