Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabia this week — his second in the last three years — highlights the eagerness and enthusiasm of both nations to take their bilateral relationship to new levels. They want to go beyond the traditional boundaries that have hemmed in this relationship and ensure they realize its potential. For decades, Indo-Saudi ties remained centered on two key aspects — the large number of Indian workers in the Kingdom and Saudi Arabia’s position as one of the principal sellers of crude oil to India. However, the relationship seems to have developed new ambitions over the past couple of years, especially after repeated meetings between Modi and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, both bilaterally and at multilateral forums such as G20 summit meetings. The two leaders enjoy an extremely close personal relationship and this is now reflecting on the bilateral ties, which have begun to acquire entirely different dimensions, adding significant depth and width to economic ties beyond the supply of crude and expat Indian workers. In August, Saudi Arabia’s Aramco picked up a 20 percent stake in India’s largest company, Reliance Industries, for nearly $15 billion, making it by far the largest Saudi investment in India and one of the biggest all-time investments into the country. There are other ambitious business projects in the pipeline. India is keen on Saudi investments in the planned expansion of its strategic oil reserve. In addition, India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have signed a tripartite deal to construct the largest greenfield refinery in the world. The $44 billion West Coast refinery is expected to produce 60 million tons of refined crude oil and have extensive downstream plants for the production of a variety of chemicals. It would form the biggest such cluster in India. Indian Oil, a state-owned oil company, is expected to set up a joint venture in the Kingdom for the retail distribution of petroleum products. India will also launch its payment card, RuPay, in Saudi Arabia, mainly targeting the 2.5 million expat Indians living in the Arab nation. The other big movement in the bilateral ties is in the strategic relationship. As part of Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammad has identified eight countries with which Saudi Arabia should develop strategic ties, and India is one of them. One of the most significant takeaways of Modi’s latest visit is the creation of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council — a body that will be co-chaired by Modi and King Salman. Having the two leaders chair the council will not only infuse energy into the development of strategic ties, but will also allow the two leaders to regularly monitor progress and remove any bureaucratic or procedural hurdles that could emerge along the way. The council will evaluate all aspects of the relationship: Political, diplomatic and strategic, as well as in business and energy. The two countries have come decidedly closer in the political and strategic spheres. Most of this proximity has been driven over the last three years following the frequent meetings between Modi and Crown Prince Mohammed. One of the most significant strategic developments, due almost entirely to the mutual confidence and trust that the two leaders have developed in each other, is the planned joint defense exercise that the Indian and Saudi navies will hold in late December in the Arabian Gulf. That India should decide to go ahead with this exercise, despite the increase in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with whom India also shares good ties, indicates a degree of maturity in the relationship and the mutual confidence the two countries have developed in each other. During the visit of Crown Prince Mohammed to India in February, the two leaders also agreed that India and Saudi Arabia should work together with other Indian Ocean Rim Association countries to enhance maritime security and protect international trade, mainly from the threat of piracy, which has again increased in the waters off East Africa. Another area where there is tremendous scope for the development of bilateral ties is defense manufacturing, as the Kingdom is keen to diversify its economy away from oil. India has a large defense industry and can easily create joint ventures for production in Saudi Arabia. In fact, a number of Indian defense manufacturers, both state-owned and private, have already visited Saudi Arabia to evaluate the possibilities and discuss deals with their potential Saudi partners. As India is already training several Saudi military officers at its academies, the Saudi forces are familiar, to some extent, with Indian weapons systems, meaning the extension of the relationship into defense manufacturing in Saudi Arabia would be a natural progression. India and Saudi Arabia also have a lot of potential in other areas, notably renewable energy and agriculture. In terms of renewable energy, notably solar and wind power, India has developed a very large capacity and is now home to some of the world’s largest wind and solar energy farms. As Saudi Arabia develops its own capacity in these domains, India could definitely play a role. The two countries could also look at helping African and other developing countries grow their renewable energy resources. Agriculture is another domain where India and Saudi Arabia can collaborate and take the relationship beyond one of buyer and seller. In this case, the Kingdom is one of the biggest buyers of Indian farm products. Indian farmers and farming companies have already made a name for themselves in various countries around the world — Italy, Uruguay and Ethiopia, to name just a few. As Saudi Arabia is trying to enhance its own farm production, India could play a role not just with manpower, but also technology. The focused leadership that Crown Prince Mohammed and Modi offer can ensure most of these intentions and opportunities are realized and Saudi Arabia and India’s bilateral ties taken to the next level. Ranvir S. Nayar is the editor of Media India Group, a global platform based in Europe and India that encompasses publishing, communication and consultation services.