Commander of Royal Saudi Land Forces arrive in India in a landmark visit

Riyadh: In a historic first, Commander of Royal Saudi Land Forces Lieutenant General Fahd Bin Abdullah Mohammed Al-Mutair arrived in New Delhi on an official visit Monday. The three-day visit is the first-ever by a Saudi Land forces chief to India and is a testament to the growing bilateral relations in different sectors, especially in defense cooperation between the two regional powers.

This high-profile visit of Lt. General Al-Mutair reflects growing congruence in bilateral ties with a vital defense cooperation component.

M. M. Naravane, chief of the Indian Army, received the Saudi commander in the South Block lawns of the Ministry of Defense. The visiting general officer was thereafter presented with a customary guard of honor. After the initial exchange of pleasantries, the chiefs and their respective delegations proceeded to review the present state of military cooperation and issues of mutual interest.

The Saudi general will also be meeting with the hierarchy of Indian armed forces as part of his program later during the day. A statement released by the Riyadh-based Indian embassy said: “The visit is seemingly important due to the warm personal relations shared between the two army chiefs. Building ahead on the relations post the historic visit of chief of Indian army in December 2020, both the land forces commanders had regular telephonic exchanges to monitor the progress of mutually agreed roadmap of bilateral relations.”

The defense relations between the two countries saw a notable upswing last year with a series of high-level interactions and the first bilateral naval exercise, “Al Mohed-Al Hindi” conducted in August 2021 on the eastern coast of the Kingdom at Jubail, said the statement. Despite COVID induced travel restrictions, officers from both Royal Saudi Armed Forces and Indian Armed Forces are undergoing training in the various military institutes of the two countries, it added.

Predicting more exchanges and training activities between the two friendly countries this year, the statement said that new areas of cooperation are being mutually identified to include intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism, artificial intelligence, and cyber security. To this end, it is important to note that the first-ever land forces exercise to be conducted in the second half of 2022 is also on the agenda during the discussions between the two chiefs.

“As India celebrates 75 years of establishing its diplomatic relations with the Kingdom in 2022, defense cooperation remains one of the key pillars of bilateral relations between the two countries,” said the embassy’s statement. “The vision of His Majesty King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud to provide a major impetus to the defense relations, which he himself elevated to a new level by signing the Memorandum of Defense Cooperation in 2014 as the then crown prince and defense minister, has witnessed numerous positive initiatives under his guidance and directions of the Crown Prince His Royal Highness Prince Mohammad bin Salman,” it added.

Today, both India and Saudi Arabia strive to be strategic defense partners being major regional players and sharing common security concerns facing the region. India and Saudi Arabia have also signed an agreement on increasing collaboration in military acquisitions, joint research, forming joint ventures, and technology transfers. The deal was signed between the General Authority of Military Industries of Saudi Arabia and India’s Department of Defense Production on the sidelines of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Kingdom in 2019.

—INDIA NEWS STREAM