103So long as it was preoccupied with Pakistan, India found limited avenues
to engage with Saudi Arabia. Its decision to delink Pakistan from its broader
Middle East policy and the Saudi desire to Look East for stable energy-
economic partnerships came around the same time and proved to be com-
plementary. If the OIC offers a multilateral forum for Pakistan to engage
with Riyadh, in recent years New Delhi has been using G-20 to continue
its politico-economic dialogue with the Kingdom. Indeed, much of the
improvement, diversification and expansion of Indo-Saudi relations have
been the direct result of India’s willingness and ability to delink Pakistan
from its Middle East policy. The former was a political move but was facili-
tated by its economic growth. Through its brother-friend approach towards
the two contentious neighbours, Saudi Arabia also managed to reorganize
its priorities. While Pakistan has been a stumbling block, both countries
found a common cause in the Palestinian issue which has been one of the
few areas of Indo-Saudi interest convergence since 1947.
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PAKISTAN FACTOR