India, Saudi Arabia to hold first joint naval drills in early March

India and Saudi Arabia will conduct their first-ever joint naval exercises in the first week of March next year, as the two sides agreed to enhance their cooperation in defence and security areas, sources said on Thursday.

An Indian source privy to the development said a preparatory meeting on the proposed drills took place early this month in India and another meeting would take place in December.

“The two sides will conduct their first-ever joint naval exercises in the first week of March next year,” said the source.

Sources said the Gulf Kingdom wants to deepen its maritime cooperation with India in the western Indian Ocean, which constitutes busy and sensitive shipping routes such as the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf.

A series of damaging drone and missile attacks on oil facilities of Saudi Aramco, the country’s national petroleum company, in Abqaiq and Khurais in the Persian Gulf on September 14 drove oil prices to their highest level in nearly four months.

The attack had knocked out over half of Saudi Arabia’s production as it cut 5.7 million barrels per day or over 5 per cent of the world’s supply.

India had condemned the attacks and reiterated its resolve to oppose terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

The two sides are moving away from a purely buyer-seller relationship towards a closer strategic partnership, sources said.

Some new areas of cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia have been worked out and one of them is the defence industry, they said.

An MoU between Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Military Industries (GAMI) and Department of Defence Production, the Ministry of Defence concerning collaboration in military acquisition, industries, research, development and technology was signed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wide ranging talks with powerful Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday.

“We had a mechanism called Joint Defence Coordination Committee (JDCC). On the sidelines of its fourth meeting in Riyadh this January, we for the first time ever facilitated interaction between Indian defence industry – both public and private – with the Saudi establishment,” the source said.

“GAMI proposed an MoU in August and within a short span of time we worked it out,” the source said, adding that the two sides are looking for more collaboration in security areas, including counter terrorism.