(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
In a historic first, Royal Saudi Land Forces commander Lt. Gen.
Fahd bin Abdullah Mohammed Al-Mutair arrived in New Delhi on
Monday, Trend reports citing Arab
News .
Both Saudi Arabia and India share common security concerns and
strive to be strategic defense partners by being major regional
players.
On Tuesday, India's Chief of army Staff Gen. M.M. Naravane
received Lt. Gen. Al-Mutair in the South Block lawns of India's
Ministry of Defense, where the latter was presented with a
customary guard of honor.
The chiefs, along with their respective delegations, held
discussions to review the present state of military cooperation and
issues of mutual interest.
Al-Mutair also met with officials of the Indian Armed
Forces.
Building on relations following the historic visit of the chief
of the Indian Army in December 2020, both commanders have spoken
regularly to monitor the progress of a mutually agreed-upon roadmap
of bilateral relations.
Defense relations between the two countries have seen a notable
upswing in the last year with a series of high-level interactions
and the first bilateral naval exercise,“Al-Mohed Al-Hindi,”
conducted in August 2021 in Jubail, in the Eastern Province.
Despite COVID-19 travel restrictions, officers from both the
Royal Saudi Armed Forces and the Indian Armed Forces are undergoing
training in various military institutes of the two countries.
“This year, we expect more exchanges and training activities to
be conducted between the two friendly countries,” said India's
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr. Ausaf Sayeed.
“New areas of cooperation are being mutually identified,
including intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism, artificial
intelligence and cyber security, in addition to conducting the
first-ever land forces exercise in the second half of 2022,” he
said.
As India celebrates 75 years since establishing its diplomatic
relations with the Kingdom, Sayeed explained, defense cooperation
remains one of the key pillars of bilateral relations between the
two countries.
“King Salman's vision was to provide a major impetus to defense
relations, which he himself elevated to a new level by signing the
Memorandum of Defense Cooperation in 2014,” he said.
“Since then, there have been numerous positive initiatives under
the guidance of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” he added.
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