India occupies a special place with Saudi Arabia and restoring bilateral ties "to its past glory" is one of his key objectives in visiting India this week, says King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi ruler said he had been regularly reading on developments in India, including how it was achieving "faster than normal" economic growth. "I believe above average economic growth shows the Indian people to be practical and productive." King Abdullah said Saudi Arabia hoped India would succeed in its economic endeavours. His country was in a position to supply India with all its energy needs.
"This depends on the desire of India," he said. Saudi Arabia wanted to strengthen ties with India through energy relations. "We are ready to provide energy to India in the long term."

In a signal of Saudi interest in investing in India's petroleum infrastructure, he advised India to look at the issue of refining. Refining shortages were a key reason for high petrol prices. "Such capacity plays a key role in determining local prices for oil," he said. More generally, King Abdullah said the present high price of oil was not in the interest of the developing world. Sources say his visit will lead to Saudi firms and cap ital being used to build refineries in India. Sensitive as to how Saudi Arabia's close military and political relationship with Pakistan is perceived in India, King Abdullah insisted his country's ties with India were "not related to its relations with Pakistan". He repeatedly stressed his desire for an Indo-Saudi relationship independent of any third country, whether it was Pakistan, China or the United States.