Army chief Naravane meets top Saudi Generals, discusses defence cooperation

As part of his second leg of the two-nation visit, Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane on Sunday met top Saudi Generals and discussed issues of mutual interest and defence cooperation.

As per the Indian Army, it was for the first time that an Indian Army Chief visited the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

"Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane visited Ministry of Defence Riyadh and called on General Fayyad bin Hamid Ruwaili, Chief of General Staff CGS. He discussed issues of mutual interest and defence cooperation," the Indian Army said in a tweet on Sunday.

It further said, "General MM Naravane COAS interacted with Lieutenant General Mutlaq bin Salim bin Al-Azima Commander of the Joint Forces Saudi Arabia and exchanged views on defence cooperation."

The Army Chief had earlier visited the United Arab Emirates from 9 to 10 December 2020. In the UAE, he had called on senior military officials to discuss avenues for enhancing India-UAE defence relations.

He then travelled to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a two-day visit from December 13 to 14.

Last month, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar was in the UAE to discuss the advancement of strategic cooperation between the two countries as coronavirus crisis seems to ebb away with the imminent roll-out of COVID vaccine.