India Saudi Security – Relations – Burning Issues

Table of Contents

The Observation

India and Saudi Arabia are strategic partners since the signing of the Riyadh Declaration in 2010.
Relations between the two nations are generally strong and close, especially in commercial interests.

About 2 million-strong Indian community is in Saudi Arabia.
India contributes to largest expatriate community in the Saudi Kingdom and is the ‘most preferred community’.

Rajeshwari Pillai Rajagopalan
- Energy security continues to dominate the India-Saudi agenda but security and defense cooperation are becoming more important in the India-Saudi relationship.

Joint Committee on Defense Cooperation (JCDC) meetings have given a spurt to overall defence cooperation between India and Saudi.
- Saudi armed forces have regularly attended training programs at Indian military institutions including the National Defense College, the College of Defense Management and the Defense Services and Staff College.
- Royal Saudi naval forces have stepped up naval engagements with the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard, with Indian ships undertaking a number of goodwill visits to Saudi ports since 2010.
- India and Saudi Arabia have also agreed to strengthen their cooperation in the area of defense production.
  - MoU signed between Saudi General Authority of Military Industries and India’s Department of Defense Production

Overall, India-Saudi Arabia defense cooperation has considerably picked up the pace.
The direction of the India-Saudi bilateral defense relationship remains extremely positive with several key initiatives being taken regularly.
The navies of the two countries had planned to hold their first-ever joint naval exercises in March 2020 but it had to be postponed on account of the pandemic. The naval exercise has been rescheduled for the first half of 2021.