India and Saudi Arabia signed a joint declaration on Monday stressing the need to strengthen their strategic partnership in areas like ship covering security, economic, defense and political areas.

India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh, who was on an official visit to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia met King Abdullah and during discussions the two leaders decided to increase the flow of investments between the two countries and enhancing bilateral trade.

King Abdullah and PM Singh held in-depth discussions on a wide range of issues and asserted that strong bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and India will benefit the citizens of the both countries.

The two leaders reiterated their mutual desire to develop as knowledge-based economies based on advances in the areas of information technology, space science and other frontier technologies.

The two leaders also condemned the phenomena of terrorism, extremism and violence and agreed to enhance cooperation in exchange of information relating to terrorist activities, money laundering, narcotics, arms and human trafficking, and develop joint strategies to combat these threats.

The two leaders also discussed various regional issues like the peace-building efforts in Afghanistan, ongoing international efforts to resolve the issues relating to Iran’s nuclear program peacefully through dialogue and Iraq’s upcoming elections.

Before leaving for Saudi, PM Singh had said “the Gulf region is an area of vital importance for India’s security and prosperity. India and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have enjoyed special relations based on several millennia of civilizational and cultural linkages and people to people exchanges.”

He had added, “Our trade and investment linkages have grown though they remain much below the potential of our two economies, and must be broad based.”

Saudi Arabia is India’s largest and most reliable supplier of energy needs. The country is home to an Indian community numbering about 1.8 million.