RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and India issued a joint statement marking the end of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the country on Monday. In the statement, both sides recalled the historic and friendly relations between their countries. Bilateral relations are “marked by trust, mutual understanding, goodwill, cooperation and respect for each other’s interests,” the statement said. Both sides expressed satisfaction that their relations had expanded and deepened in different fields including politics, trade, investment, energy, defence, security and culture. India thanked the Kingdom for taking excellent care of more than 2.4 million Indians residing in Saudi Arabia and conveyed its appreciation for the full support extended by Saudi Arabia to Indian authorities during the evacuation of Indian nationals stranded in Sudan via Jeddah under Operation Kaveri. India also congratulated Saudi Arabia for a successful Hajj this year and expressed its appreciation for the excellent coordination between the two countries in facilitating Indian Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. Both countries highlighted the importance of energy cooperation as an important pillar of the strategic partnership between them. They also stressed the importance of supporting the stability of the world’s oil markets by encouraging dialogue and cooperation between producing and consuming countries and ensuring the security of energy supply sources in world markets. Saudi Arabia affirmed the Kingdom’s commitment to being a reliable partner and exporter of crude oil supplies to India. Both countries said they look forward to boosting joint cooperation in the fields of electricity, grid interconnection, and hydrogen and its derivatives. They also agreed to develop joint projects to transform oil into petrochemicals in the two countries, and to provide the necessary support, requirements, and enablers to accelerate the West Coast refinery project. Both countries also agreed to explore investment opportunities in the field of fertilizers and intermediate, transformative and specialized petrochemicals.