Riyadh, June 7 (IANS): The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia organised a "Gandhi cycle rally for peace" in Riyadh on Friday to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

More than 150 persons of different nationalities, gender and age, including many Saudi nationals participated in the cycle rally organized in association with the Diplomatic Quarter Authority and Saudi Cycling Federation.

India's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Dr Ausaf Sayeed, flagged off the rally and later participated in the event with his wife Farha Sayeed.

Speaking on the occasion, Sayeed called Mahatma Gandhi a "global apostle of peace, an extraordinary soul, who left behind an eternal message of peace, unity and non-violence". He said the Gandhian ideology is as relevant to the world today as it was during his lifetime.

In this context, he lauded the recent remarks made by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud during a conference in Mecca that "Saudi Arabia is committed to spreading peace and co-existence and oppose racism and xenophobia on any pretext".

It was one of the first events of its kind held at the Diplomatic Quarters in Riyadh and reflected the increasingly friendly relations between India and Saudi Arabia especially after the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Kingdom in April 2016 and the state visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to India in February this year.

A Saudi cycle acrobatic team gave a scintillating performance before the start of the rally.