Army chief General MM Naravane to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE next week

In a significant development, Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane will be on a week-long two-country visit to Saudi Arabia and UAE next week. This is the first such visit by an Indian Army chief to both the west Asian Arab countries which shows increased engagement between New Delhi and that part of the world.

He will be in Saudi Arabia from 6th to 8th December, even as both countries have increased engagement in Defence. Riyadh-Delhi ties have seen high voltage diplomatic activity, including 2 high-level visit--first by Crown Prince to Delhi in 2018, followed by the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the country last year. India is one of the key "strategic partner" of the Kingdom, with trade, investment, and others as key pillars.

His next stop will be the United Arab Emirates, another country with which India has increased engagement on several fronts. The Army Chief's visit comes just days after India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had visited the country, which hosts one of the largest population of migrants Indians.

This is Army Chief's 3rd foreign visit, amidst the covid pandemic. He has been to Myanmar, Nepal and the next focus is to the west--Arab world.