NEW DELHI, India: Saudi Arabia’s Vice Minister for International Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources – H.E. Eng. Khalil Ibrahim Bin Salamah, speaks with the conviction of a man who sees the world through the lens of transformation. For him, Saudi Arabia’s partnership with India is not merely a chapter in diplomacy; it’s the blueprint of a shared future.
In an exclusive conversation with World Affairs News Network (WNN) in New Delhi, Khalil described the evolving Saudi–India engagement as “a realignment of priorities” rather than a conventional bilateral exercise. “Coming back to India is like coming full circle,” he said, recalling how the Kingdom’s first major engagement with India began nearly three decades ago. “Our first collaboration dates back to 1996, when we selected India for a satellite research center. Nearly thirty years later, we’re reconnecting the same dots, but with a broader and far more ambitious industrial vision.”
“It’s not only about manufacturing; it’s about manufacturing thought.”
That one line captures the intellectual heart of Khalil’s argument a move from transactional partnerships to creative, forward-looking collaboration.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, where Khalil serves as Vice Minister, is spearheading a wave of strategic projects under the Kingdom’s National Industrial Strategy, a core component of Vision 2030. The initiative is reshaping Saudi Arabia’s economic identity shifting it from an oil-based exporter to a diversified, innovation-driven hub. India, he said, is an essential partner in this transition.
“In 1996 and 1997, before establishing the Sadiq R&D Centre, we chose India because of its scientific capacity, its human talent, and its proximity,” he explained. “Now, under Vision 2030, we’re scaling that relationship to industrial heights that will define the next generation.”
Khalil outlined the roadmap of this collaboration from chemicals and petrochemicals to automotive manufacturing, aerospace, and machinery. “If we talk about downstream sectors, plastics, rubber, and synthetic materials, India’s manufacturing strength and Saudi Arabia’s raw resources perfectly complement each other,” he said.
“We’re not following others; we’re testing the future together.”
He leaned forward, his voice measured yet emphatic. “The future is not to be inherited, it is to be designed,” he said. “It’s not about catching up with the world, it’s about co-creating what comes next.”
For Khalil, Saudi Arabia’s industrial transformation is about redefining what’s possible. “Imagine a car body made from advanced plastic that ensures both safety and color without needing paint,” he said, gesturing to underline the point. “That’s not fiction, it’s what happens when innovation meets collaboration.”
Saudi Arabia, he added, is preparing to become a serious new player in aerospace, advanced mobility, and unmanned systems both by air and sea.
“Few countries dare to enter as new players, but we’re doing exactly that,” he said. “By 2030, we aim to quadruple our manufacturing GDP, quintuple exports of manufactured goods, and create four times more high-quality jobs. Is it ambitious? Yes. Is it achievable? Absolutely.”
He paused briefly, then added with conviction, “We are moving on a very solid line.”
“No industrial transformation can survive without human transformation.”
The conversation flowed seamlessly from industrial policy to human capital, a link that Khalil described as fundamental. “We’re conscious about providing skills through collaboration between governments, private sectors, and universities,” he said. “We are engaging with India’s CSIR and exploring partnerships with IITs to align vocational training with real industry demand.”
Saudi Arabia’s strategy, he explained, is not only about production capacity but about intellectual exchange and knowledge creation. “We want Saudi engineers learning from Indian innovation ecosystems, and Indian firms learning from Saudi scale and infrastructure,” he said.
That same logic extends to sustainability. “Our industrialization must take care of the environment,” Khalil said. “We’re investing heavily in recycling from plastics and metals to electronics. One of our national companies, CERP, is already recycling construction materials for reuse in new projects.”
Sustainability, he added, is no longer a moral argument but a strategic one. “Circular economies aren’t a global trend they’re the future of competitiveness,” he said.
As the discussion turned toward foreign investment, Khalil’s message was unmistakably direct: come and build with us. “We’ve built the plants come and join us,” he said, addressing Indian business leaders and investors. “We want to work with you. Saudi Arabia is not just offering access to our market, but to the markets beyond Africa, Europe, and Asia through our trade corridors.”
He outlined three pillars of the Kingdom’s investor strategy: market demand, supply chain readiness, and human capital. “As a government, we provide the full value chain for any industry set up in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “Investors will always have both market feasibility and human resource support.”
“We are not offering presence in Saudi Arabia, we are offering partnership in a growing global market.”
Khalil’s tone softened when he spoke of the cultural and historical resonance between the two nations. “This is not a new partnership it’s the renewal of an old one with stronger intent and wider scope,” he said. “Both India and Saudi Arabia have young populations, visionary leadership, and the determination to shape their futures. That makes collaboration not only natural, but inevitable.”
He smiled slightly before delivering his closing line, one that distilled both strategic ambition and shared purpose:
“We are not following others. We’re testing the future, and we’re testing it together.”
The Global and Geopolitical Context
The growing Saudi–India partnership sits at the intersection of shifting global power, strategic diversification, and economic rebalancing across the Global South. What began as an energy-driven relationship is now expanding into a multifaceted industrial and technological alliance.
For Saudi Arabia, Vision 2030 is not only a national reform plan, it’s a platform for global repositioning. Its inclusion in BRICS marks a milestone in Riyadh’s eastward economic engagement, balancing its traditional Western partnerships with deeper collaboration across Asia. India, as a leading BRICS economy, offers both scale and strategy access to a massive consumer base, proven innovation ecosystems, and geopolitical alignment within the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
This partnership thus forms a critical node in a wider network of new economic corridors from the Gulf to South Asia and from Africa to Europe, designed to reshape global trade routes, energy logistics, and industrial supply chains.
For India, the collaboration aligns perfectly with Make in India and its aspiration to emerge as a global manufacturing hub. For Saudi Arabia, it represents the bridge from hydrocarbons to high-tech from oil to innovation.
In the emerging multipolar world, where economic power is decentralizing and strategic partnerships are defined by shared goals rather than blocs, the Saudi–India industrial alliance could well define the architecture of a new global order one in which the Global South leads not by numbers, but by ideas.
As Engineer Khalil said, “We’re not following others we’re testing the future together.” That future, it seems, is already being built one partnership, one factory, one idea at a time.
— Dr. Shahid Siddiqui; follow via X @shahidsiddiqui
