India, Saudi mull local currency trade

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : India and Saudi Arabia have begun discussions on trading in national currencies, officials from the ministry of external affairs said after a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. The idea was currently in the “discussion stage", said Ausaf Sayeed, secretary in the ministry. “The Saudi side is aware that we have worked out similar arrangements with other countries in the region.

So, the discussions will be beginning or have already begun," he added. India conducts trade in national currency with the UAE. The sides also agreed to expedite talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a six- nation grouping that includes Saudi Arabia.

The ministry said delays had been caused by the lack of a chief negotiator on the GCC side, which has been resolved. Beyond this, the two countries agreed to create a joint task force to channel a promised $100 billion in investments from Saudi Arabia into India. This was first mentioned during Salman’s previous visit to India in 2019.

Much of this relates to the West Coast Refinery Project, a proposed trilateral refinery to be set up between Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, the UAE’s Adnoc and Indian state-owned firms Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd. Aramco and Adnoc have committed to investing $44 billion in the project. “Both sides extended their full support to the early implementation of the West Coast refinery projects… The two sides agreed to set up a joint task force to help in identifying and channelising the $100 billion investments promised by the Saudi side - half of which was for the refinery -- and again to have monitoring committee to ensure that the progress in