Signifying growing defence and strategic ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, Army Chief General MM Naravane on Tuesday commenced a weeklong visit to these two nations. He will discuss the entire range of military relations with his counterparts and also explore ways to invite manufacturers from there to invest in Indian defence industry.
More than ten million Indian expatriates are residing in these two countries. Their annual remittances are pegged more than 45billion dollars.
This will be the first visit to Saudi Arabia and UAE by an Indian army chief, underlining fast-developing relations between the two nations.
Naravane’s visit comes at a time when Pakistan’s relations with the Saudi Arabia and UAE are under pressure. Peeved over Islamabad’s criticism of Riyadh’s position on the Kashmir issue, Saudi Arabia recently sought the early repayment of a $3-billion loan provided to the Imran Khan Government in 2018.
During the first leg of his tour, Naravane will visit the UAE from December 9 to 10.
He is scheduled to call on senior military officials where he will discuss avenues for enhancing India-UAE defence relations, officials said here on Tuesday.
The issue of the pending deal for 93,895 close quarter carbines with Caracal for the Indian Army is expected to be raised by the UAE side, an official source said. The trip has been delayed by couple of days from the original schedule. It comes close after the visit of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to UAE.
The Army Chief will travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the second leg of his tour from December 13 to 14. “He will take forward the excellent defence cooperation between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and India through multiple meetings with senior functionaries of security establishment and exchange views on various defence related issues,” the Army said.
Naravane will visit the Headquarters of Royal Saudi Land Force, the Joint Force Command Headquarters and King Abdulaziz Military Academy. He is also scheduled to visit the National Defence University and address the students and faculty at the institution.
Last year, India and Saudi Arabia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on defence industries collaboration and an agreement on security cooperation.
These high-profile visits are part of India’s outreach to West Asia, seen by New Delhi as part of its extended neighbourhood. This effort has bolstered defence and security cooperation, especially in counter-terrorist.