Diplomacy

India’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Vipul, met GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi at the headquarters of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh. The two sides reviewed India-GCC relations and discussed ways to expand cooperation while examining progress surrounding negotiations for the proposed Free Trade Agreement. Preparations were also discussed for an India-GCC ministerial meeting scheduled to take place in September.

A major component of the partnership is India’s commitment to train 500 Mauritian civil servants over five years through the National Centre for Good Governance. The programme was agreed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mauritius in 2025, and the first batch is already undergoing training in Mussoorie.

The meeting came as Jaishankar co-chaired the 27th India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. The commission serves as one of the principal institutional mechanisms for expanding economic relations between the two countries and covers sectors ranging from trade and investment to science, technology and industrial cooperation.