Media Center

A delegation led by Gen (Dr.) V.K. Singh (Retd.), Minister of State for External Affairs visited Saudi Arabia on 03/02/2015 for signing of Annual Haj Agreement for Haj 2015 (1436H). During his visit, The Minister met H.E Dr. Bandar Ibn Muhammad Hajjar, Saudi Minister of Haj in Jeddah and discussed issues pertaining to arrangements for Haj 2015. Following the discussion the Haj agreement between India and Saudi Arabia was signed. The delegation included Ambassador of India Mr. Hamid Ali Rao, Chairman Haj Committee of India Mr. Qaisar Shamim, Joint Secretary (Haj), Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Ajit Gupte, Consul General of India Mr. B.S. Mubarak, CEO Haj Committee of India Mr. Ataur Rahman, Consul Haj Mr. Noor Rahman Sheikh and representatives from Ministry of Civil Aviation.

During the interaction with the Haj Minister, General V.K. Singh expressed deep condolences on sad demise of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah and expressed best wishes for King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and fondly recalled the meeting between Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and King Salman bin Abdul Aziz (then Crown Prince) in Brisbane (Australia) on 16 November 2014.

The Haj quota for India for the year 2015 would be 1,36,020 and 100,020 pilgrims would come through Haj Committee of India and the remaining 36,000 would come through Private Tour Operators. The two Ministers discussed various other Haj-related issues including need to make cooling system effective in Mina, better buses facilities for pilgrims to move between Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah, catering services to pilgrims and standardization of baggage.