The 5th meeting of India – Saudi Arabia Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation was held in New Delhi

India and Saudi Arabia have decided to work towards enhancing defence industry cooperation.

At the 5th meeting of India – Saudi Arabia Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation (JCDC) in New Delhi on Wednesday, the two sides decided to identify new avenues and examine areas of mutual interest for Joint Venture in order to enhance defence industry cooperation, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.

During the meeting, the two sides reviewed the progress made in military-to-military engagements, including joint exercises, expert exchanges and industry cooperation.

Enhancing the scope and complexities of the existing joint naval exercises and expanding bilateral exercises in other domains were also discussed, the ministry added.

The JCDC meeting was co-chaired by Joint Secretary (Armed Forces) Shri Dinesh Kumar and Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of Defence for Strategic Affairs Mr Ahmed A Aseeri.

According to the defence ministry, it was agreed to hold the next meeting of JCDC in Saudi Arabia on mutually convenient dates in 2023.

The JCDC is the apex body between the Defence Ministries of India and Saudi Arabia to comprehensively review & guide all aspects of bilateral defence cooperation.

On Thursday, the Saudi Deputy Minister called on Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and they discussed ways to enhance defence cooperation between the two countries. He also interacted with the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC).

A Defence Industry interaction was also organised for the delegation in which a number of Indian defence industries participated.