SAUDI ARABIA

by Rahul chandra varma

map

introduction

name kingdom of saudi arabia capital Riyadh government monarchy independence 23rdsep,1932 currency riyal (1 riyal=rs11.9) Judicial branch - Supreme Council of Justice

history

-In the pre- islamic times ,present day saudi was populated by nomads.
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-Later in the16th century it came under the ottoman emmpie. -and in 1932 the modern day saudi came into existence.

-in the indian context,the history of arabia dates back to thousands of years where people from there used to come to india for business purpose.some of the books written on indian geography are written by arab people like albaruni.
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geography

-it has an area of 21,49,690 sq km -It is almost parallel to india in terms of latitudes and cimate is harsh and dry desert with extreme temperatures. -it has land boundaries with 7 countries.

-most of the area is covered by deserts like arabian desert,rub-al-kali etc.

-coastline is 2640km on red sea and persian gulf.

demographics

population is 261,31,703(2011 est.) Arabs constitute 90% and other 10% is asians,africans. urban population is 82% and is increasing by 2% every year. literacy rate is 78%. religion of the region is islam and above 95% people are muslims. the official language is Arabic and English is widely used. there is a presence of urdu.

resources

petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, copper it has the worlds highest reserves of petroleum (almost 1/5th of total resrves) 90% of its export earnings come from oil industry. the presence of agriculture is 1.67% of the area.

economy

GDP of the country is $622 billion(2010 est.) ,23rd largest Per capita income is $24,200,55th place contribution to GDP sector wise .agriculture---2.7% .service-------35.4% .industry------61.9% inflation rate is 5.7% reserves of foreign exchange and gold is $456.2billions HDI index is 0.752(high,55th in world)

Imports and exports of saudi

Imports

machinery and equipment foodstuff chemicals motor vehicles Textiles petroleum and petroleum products

exports

Import and export partners

Imports

exports

US 12.8%, China 10.6%, Germany 8.1%, Japan 6.4%, UK 4.9%, South Korea 4.6%, India 4.4%, France 4.2%, Italy 4% (2009) Japan 15.4%, China 12.5%, US 12.3%, South Korea 10.4%, India 7.7%, Singapore 4.3% (2009)

Exports from india

-Major items exported by India are basmati/non-basmati rice, tea, manmade yarn, fabrics, made ups, cotton yarn, primary & semi-finished iron and steel, chemicals, plastic & linoleum products,machinery and instruments.

Growth of indian exports

year Imports from saudi arabia 504.72 Exports to saudi arabia 940.74 Total trade Growth in indian exports 13.83%

2002-03

1445.47

2003-04
2004-05

737.77
1301.15

1123.31
1412.06

1861.08
2713.21

19.41%
25.71%

2005-06
2006-07

1632.34
13383.90

1809.77
2588.18

3442.11
15972.08

28.17
31.06

Bilateral trade

India and Saudi Arabia have substantial trade relations in the non-oil sector and see each other as important economic partners in respect of investments, joint ventures, transfer of technology projects and joint projects in third countries. Since the promulgation of new investment laws by the Saudi government and establishment of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) in mid-2000, many Indian firms have taken advantage of the new Saudi laws allowing for setting up of 100% foreign owned projects in the Kingdom. scope for industriespharma,telecommunications,leather products,construction,powerloom,gems&jewel

Interesting facts

-it is the birth place of islam,worlds 2nd largest religion.

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-it is also known as "The Land of The Two Holy Mosques.mecca and medina.

- Saudi Arabia was a founding member of OPEC(Association for petroleum exporting countries)
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- Saudi Arabia is encouraging the growth of the private sector in order to diversify its economy and focusing on power generation, telecommunications and others.
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Thank you