NEW DELHI: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry is leading a delegation of CEOs to Saudi Arabia this week as India’s businesses aim to play a role in the Kingdom’s mega projects and take bilateral economic relations to “another level.”

Saudi Arabia-India ties gained new momentum last year throughout India’s presidency of the G20 and after the state visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in September, during which officials signed an accord to boost mutual investment.

India’s apex business body is taking the high-level delegation, comprising over a dozen Indian CEOs and government officials, to follow-up on the agreement and to boost bilateral trade relations.

“We have 17 CEOs cutting across diverse industry sectors, so this is one of the highest, most high-powered delegation to Saudi Arabia,” the FICCI’s Secretary-General S.K. Pathak told Arab News.

The delegation is visiting Saudi Arabia from Feb. 18 to 21 and has already held talks with the Saudi Arabia’s Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and members of the Saudi-India Business Forum.

“There are two aspects — one is what Indian companies can do, (what kind of) investment in Saudi Arabia, and what Saudi companies can do in India … basically whatever is the bilateral trade and how we can take it to another level.”

The Indian CEOs joining the FICCI are also scheduled to meet with representatives from the Federation of Saudi Chambers and the Public Investment Fund during their trip to Saudi Arabia. Their visit to the multibillion-dollar NEOM smart city will be the first by an Indian delegation.

“Indian companies are playing a large role in the NEOM city projects and this will become even larger. This is just the beginning,” Pathak said. “The entire NEOM city is phased over a trillion dollars, the Indian companies will get a large share of that.”