RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and India have historic, centuries-old civilizational and cultural ties that bind the countries and their regions together, and in recent years the relationship has evolved significantly.
In 2006, King Abdullah became the first Saudi monarch to visit India, and with his landmark statement about “India as a second home” he set a solid foundation for the current bilateral ties.
The friendly relationship continued to grow, resulting in the historic visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Saudi Arabia in 2010. The Riyadh Declaration was signed during his visit, elevating relations between the countries to the level of a strategic partnership covering areas such as security, economics, defense and politics.
Defense and security ties took a quantum leap forward with the visit of King Salman, who at the time was Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, to India in 2014. During his trip, a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation was signed that formalized the joint activities to be undertaken in the military field. A Joint Committee on Defense Cooperation, formed to carry out periodic reviews to ensure military ties continue to progress, has met four times since then.
Two high-level visits by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saudi Arabia, in 2016 and 2019, and a reciprocal visit in 2019 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, gave a tremendous added impetus to the defense cooperation, expanding the strategic partnership.
In 2019, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Saudi General Authority of Military Industries and the Department of Defense Production at the Indian Ministry of Defense to further enhance cooperation in military acquisition and industries, joint research and development, and military technology. The agreement aims to expand and develop ties in the field of defense manufacturing, in keeping with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Indian government’s Make in India initiative.
Last year, the two nations elevated their partnership to a new level by establishing the Strategic Partnership Council, and working on joint initiatives in defense and security to fight international terror threats amid the fast-changing geopolitics of the region.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, last year also marked the historic maiden visit of India’s army chief to the Kingdom, and one of the highest-level training exchanges involving various armed forces institutions.
Both countries are also keen to strengthen their maritime cooperation in the western Indian Ocean, which includes busy and sensitive shipping routes connecting with the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Gulf.
To this end, naval cooperation has been a focus for both sides this year. Indian Navy ships visited the Kingdom in April and June, and the first Indo-Saudi bilateral naval exercise, Al Mohed-Al Hindi, took place between Aug. 9 and 14. The next steps in this maritime cooperation will include more engagements such as these, with the scope of the exercises expanded to help achieve greater interoperability when tackling common threats.
Saudi Arabia and India have also been cooperating closely in the fight against terrorism through the exchange of information and intelligence. In the past few years, they have signed several agreements in the field of security, including an extradition treaty. To enhance cooperation in this mutually identified actionable domain, new initiatives — in the form of counterterrorism exercises and a formal mechanism for the sharing of intelligence — are at advanced stages of planning.
In addition to the high-level visits by senior military officers from both sides, delegation-level visits for the purposes of information exchange, and participation in defense exhibitions to identify potential areas of mutual collaboration, form part of an ongoing process.
With the enhancement of the relationship between Saudi Arabia and India to the level of strategic partnership, there is a renewed desire on both sides to work closely together in the utilization of emerging technologies and to share new warfare concepts.
Overall, the current direction and momentum of Indo-Saudi bilateral defense cooperation is extremely robust, with a number of positive initiatives on both sides.
The shared vision of the leaderships of both countries for peace, stability and development is central to the strong ties between these two natural partners.
• Ritu Yadav is second secretary (press, information and culture) at the Indian embassy in Riyadh
