India's Army chief General M M Naravane last week left for the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in a significant week-long visit to bolster defence cooperation and security ties with the two important countries in the Gulf region. This first-ever visit by an Indian Army chief to the UAE and Saudi Arabia comes at a time when their traditionally close ties with Pakistan have faced turbulence in recent months. UAE has also now “normalised” ties with Israel, with Saudi Arabia likely to follow suit soon.
Gen Naravane will hold meetings with civilian and military leaders in the two countries to discuss measures to enhance military ties, as well as visit defence establishments and academies. His first destination will be the UAE, following which he will be in Saudi Arabia.
It will be Gen Naravane’s third foreign trip with clear diplomatic import in recent months after he visited Myanmar with foreign secretary Harsh Shringla in October, and then Nepal in November. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had also visited the UAE and Bahrain on November 24-26.
India has over the years steadily built stronger defence ties with the Gulf nations through joint exercises, military training and intelligence-sharing, even as discussions have also been under way to export the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to countries like the UAE. Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also keen on joint defence production ventures with India.
