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Other meetings:- External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Israeli Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman, UN, October 2014 - Modi and Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, BRICS summit, Ufa,
Russia, July 2015; - Modi-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UNGA September
2014 - Modi-Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Singapore, March 2015,
funeral of Lee Kuan Yew - Modi-Palestinian President Abbas UNGA September 2015
- Modi-Egyptian President Fattah el-Sisi, UNGA September 2015
- Modi-King Hussein of Jordan, UNGA, September 2015
In addition, in January 2017 India hosted Emirati Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan as the chief guest of the Republic Day
celebrations.
During the same period India hosted Israeli President Reuven Rivlin
(November 2016); Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (May 2017);
Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (March 2015); Emirati crown
prince (February 2016 and January 2017); Emirati foreign minister
(September 2015); Iranian foreign minister (August 2015); Bahraini foreign
minister (February 2015); Qatari prime minister (December 2016); Egyptian
president (September 2016); Turkish foreign minister (August 2016); Saudi
foreign minister (March 2016); Syrian foreign minister (January 2016); for-
eign minister of Jordan (December 2017); Qatari foreign minister (August
2017); Turkish president (May 2017); Israeli prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu (January 2018); and King Abdullah of Jordan (February 2018).
In short, it is with this hyperactive diplomatic environment one has to
contextualize the growing political ties between India and Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the first country in the region with
which Prime Minister Modi sought political engagement and has been
using G-20 summits to regularly meet the Saudi leadership. During the
Brisbane meet in November 2014, he met the then Crown Prince Salman.
This was repeated in Belek in Turkey the following year. By then Salman
had become King after the passing away of his half-brother Abdullah. In
the Hangzhou G-20 meet in September 2016, Modi met the then Deputy
Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman who later became crown prince in
P. R. KUMARASWAMY AND MD. M. QUAMAR