Prince Fahad Bin Mansour Al-Saud announced the StartUp Bridge initiative between India and Saudi Arabia
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siliconindia | Tuesday, 12 September 2023, 02:59 Hrs
Following the announcement of a Saudi Arabian investment facilitation centre in India, Prince Fahad Bin Mansour Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia spoke about a StartUp Bridge initiative between the two nations. After congratulating India for successfully hosting the 2023 G20 Summit, Prince Fahad Bin Mansour spoke about the initiative that aims to foster entrepreneurship ecosystems in both nations and foster a climate of collaboration and innovation that StartUp India and Invest Saudi would facilitate.
Prince Fahad Bin Mansour said, "Today, one of the main goals that we have is to activate this Bridge. Under the leadership of both government organisations, with the Ministry of Investment in Saudi, a lot of things will be there," he added. Prince Fahad Bin Mansour Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia says, "We would like to congratulate India for hosting a successful G20 Summit. We are happy to have the welcome from the leaders for the Startup20. The StartUp Bridge, a joint endeavour between the two countries, is expected to pave the way for numerous initiatives to solve pressing issues.
Prince Fahad emphasised, "We will work to see how entrepreneurs can solve a lot of problems that we are facing." He also underlined the importance of integrating 'Startup 20,' an official engagement group established under the G20 India Presidency 2023, into this bridge. "We have seen a lot of MoUs that have been signed. We would like to see the momentum keep on going. We are here to support and we just concluded the Investment Forum between Saudi and India," added the Prince.
Startup20, as described by the G20 India Presidency 2023, is an official engagement group that acts as a dialogue forum for global startup ecosystem stakeholders. Its primary objective is to represent the global startup ecosystem's concerns and challenges to G20 leaders. Like other G20 engagement groups, Startup20 collaborates with G20 Sherpa and the Startup20 secretariat, according to the official Startup20 website.
The group focuses on identifying key topics for discussion and formulating recommendations in various priority areas. These recommendations are developed through a consensus-based approach and are eventually submitted to the G20 presidency for discussion at the G20 Summit. Startup20 India operates through Task Forces, each designed to address specific priorities and topics. These task forces develop recommendations to support startup ecosystems globally, which are conveyed through a joint statement to the G20 India presidency and discussed during the G20 Summit 2023.
The Startup20 Shikhar Summit, hosted in Gurugram in July, celebrated the successful completion of Startup20's inaugural year and the release of the final "Policy Communique". This was a significant step towards the group's commitment to globally fostering entrepreneurship. In the coming months, the StartUp Bridge initiative will likely amplify the impact of Startup20, as it forms a crucial part of the effort to bolster entrepreneurship ecosystems and strengthen ties between Saudi Arabia and India. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Modi also announced the establishment of a Startup Bridge between India and Italy. He especially emphasises increasing cooperation in areas like renewable energy, green hydrogen, IT, semiconductors, telecom and space.

