{"id":52674,"date":"2025-08-30T19:13:35","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T13:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=52674"},"modified":"2025-09-04T12:27:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:57:21","slug":"india-saudi-arabia-defence-cooperation-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/30-08-2025\/india-saudi-arabia-defence-cooperation-2025","title":{"rendered":"India\u2013Saudi Arabia Defence Cooperation (2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS 2\/IR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The 7th meeting of the Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation (JCDC) was held recently.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Outcomes of the Meeting<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Expansion of Defence Cooperation: <\/strong>Training, industrial partnerships, maritime security, and joint military exercises.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India offered training slots for Saudi personnel in Indian institutions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>New Areas of Collaboration: <\/strong>Cybersecurity, Tactical communication, Information technology, Disaster management etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Military Engagements: <\/strong>India showcased \u2018Make in India\u2019 defence equipment.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Both sides explored joint production and industrial partnerships.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance of India\u2013Saudi Defence Partnership<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Strategic:<\/strong> Enhances India\u2019s security footprint in the West Asian region.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Complements both countries\u2019 Indo-Pacific and Gulf maritime security priorities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Economic\/Industrial:<\/strong> Opens market for India\u2019s growing defence manufacturing sector.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Potential for joint ventures in line with Saudi Arabia\u2019s Vision 2030 diversification strategy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Security:<\/strong> Maritime cooperation crucial for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-08-2025\/india-strategic-focus-indian-ocean-region\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-08-2025\/india-strategic-focus-indian-ocean-region\">Indian Ocean Region (IOR) <\/a>stability and securing energy trade routes.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Defence collaboration complements counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Diplomatic: <\/strong>Adds depth to the India\u2013Saudi Strategic Partnership Council (2019, upgraded in 2025).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Balances India\u2019s West Asia diplomacy alongside ties with UAE, Iran, Israel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Brief About India and Saudi Arabia Relations<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Historical Linkages: <\/strong>The historic visit of King Abdullah to India in <strong>2006 led to the Delhi Declaration<\/strong>, marking enhanced bilateral cooperation.<br>1. In <strong>2010, the Riyadh Declaration<\/strong> further elevated the relationship to a Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh\u2019s visit to Saudi Arabia.<br>&#8211; <strong>Economic Cooperation:<\/strong> India is Saudi Arabia\u2019s second largest trade partner; Saudi Arabia ranks as India\u2019s fifth largest trading partner.<br>1. Bilateral trade reached approximately USD 42.98 billion in FY 2023-24, with Indian exports worth USD 11.56 billion and imports of USD 31.42 billion from Saudi Arabia.<br>&#8211; <strong>Energy Partnership: <\/strong>Saudi Arabia remains India\u2019s third largest crude oil &amp; LPG supplier.<br>&#8211; <strong>Defence Partnership: <\/strong>The defence relationship has strengthened with extensive naval cooperation, two editions of the bilateral naval exercise Al Mohed Al Hindi, and the first-ever India-Saudi joint land force exercise EX-SADA TANSEEQ-I held in India in 2024.<br>&#8211; <strong>Cultural Relations:<\/strong> India was \u2018Guest of Honour\u2019 at Saudi Arabia\u2019s 32nd National Festival of Heritage and Culture (JANADRIYAH) in 2018.<br>1. In 2017, the Saudi Arabian government approved the practice of yoga as a sports activity.<br>&#8211; <strong>Indian Community in Saudi Arabia: <\/strong>Approximately 2.7 million Indians reside in Saudi Arabia, forming a significant living bridge promoting closer ties.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: TH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The 7th meeting of the Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation (JCDC) was held recently.\u00a0<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Key Outcomes of the Meeting<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Expansion of Defence Cooperation: Training, industrial partnerships, maritime security, and joint military exercises.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India offered training slots for Saudi personnel in Indian institutions.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">New Areas of Collaboration: Cybersecurity, Tactical communication, Information technology, Disaster management etc.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Military Engagements: India showcased \u2018Make in India\u2019 defence equipment.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/30-08-2025\/india-saudi-arabia-defence-cooperation-2025\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52674"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52954,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52674\/revisions\/52954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}