India and Saudi Arabia to ink extradition treaty

New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI) Terrorism will be high on the
agenda of India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his
three-day visit to Saudi Arabia from Saturday when the two
countries will sign an extradition treaty.
Singh will be the first Indian PM to visit Saudi Arabia
after 28 years, the last one undertaken by Indira Gandhi
in 1982.
The Prime Minister will hold talks with King Abdullah
on a number of bilateral and regional matters of mutual
concern and also address the influential Shura Council.
The talks are also expected to focus on Palestine,
besides the situation in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Yemen.
With both countries concerned over the rise of extremisim
and violence, security cooperation is likely to figure
prominently during the talks.
Both India and Saudi Arabia are aware of the connectivity
of extremist forces that have sanctuary and safe havens in the
Af-Pak border area and are seeking to penetrate other
countries of the region.
New Delhi is concerned about the situation in Afghanistan
and Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia is perturbed over the
stepped-up al Qaeda operations from Yemen.
The two countries will sign an extradition treaty, a
number of Memorandum of understandings (MoUs) and agreements
on transfer of sentenced persons, scientific and technological
cooperation, peaceful use of outer space and cooperation in
the Information Technology (IT) sector.(MORE) PTI