India's G20 presidency to play key role in achieving global peace, says senior Saudi commentator

As India holds the Presidency of the G20 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country, as other member nations, will play a decisive role in maintaining global peace and development, said a senior commentator from Saudi Arabia during his visit to India.

"India as a member of the G20, they have a role just like any other member of the G20, every guest that's going to be attending the G20. It goes to show that conflict is, unfortunately, continuing to happen, but how they are going to tackle that as a unit as members of G20 and members of the world goes to show that Terrorism is an unfortunate thing that every nation is facing besides hunger, famine and conflicts," senior Saudi commentator Sulliman Alzehaifi told ANI.

"As we see the conflicts in certain areas around the world from time to time, but how the nations come together and how they understand and deal with each other with respect and continuation in growth in all sectors - health, education, trade, business and tourism," he added.

Sulliman Alzehaifi said he was looking forward to India hosting over 200 G20 meetings across the country for he believed it was an opportune moment for the country to showcase its diverse and rich culture.

"We had discussions during this visit, and it's my first visit, that there are a lot of initiatives for every region of India, every state, every part of it for the G20 to come and visit. So, it goes to show that they are not including only specific cities and not including any specific regions, but including any and all. It goes to show that they want to develop the nation as a whole just like Saudi Arabia," said Sulliman.

Fascinated with India's economic growth, Sulliman said both India and Saudi Arabia have ambitious future plans for growth. "You guys want to believe 2047-48, you have a very ambitious plan, because, of course, 1.6 billion is a huge population and it takes time to build on that. Saudi Arabia is doing the same thing with vision 2030," he said.

A nation deeply committed to democracy and multilateralism, India's G20 Presidency has been deemed by many as a watershed moment in its history for it seeks to play an important role in achieving global peace and prosperity through pragmatic solutions. The country aims to accomplish these objectives in line with its philosophy of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' or the 'World is One Family'.

Sulliman, who visited many historical places in New Delhi, said India and Saudi Arabia have strong cultural bonding. He said Saudi-India for the first time, the cultural bonding can go much deeper than people expect in terms of food, culture and even languages.

"We visited many historical places and we saw Arabic calligraphy. Arabs need to realise that they have been here for many years and vice versa. The Silk Road connected India to the Middle East and to Europe. From the historical times there are bonds and mutual understanding with one another," said the Saudi commentator.

Saudi Arabia has a large Indian diaspora, which acts as the country's brand ambassador in the Arab World. Sulliman believes that India and Saudi Arabia have strong cultural and business ties.

"Many people do not realise that a lot of things in the Middle-East are from India in terms of spices, in terms of culture and even here also the languages, etc. Once you understand a region or a country, to better understand them and how to deal with them in all sectors, you have to understand their culture and their languages and what's a better way to do that than visiting India.

"You can read about it, you can talk to people in a cafe, you can see videos but it doesn't do any justice. For me, I did all of that, I did my research, I asked many people as to where to go, what to see and what to eat and they said all of that is worthless if you don't visit. So, when I came to visit it, it's much more than I expected," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )

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