{"id":65398,"date":"2026-01-29T18:07:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T12:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=65398"},"modified":"2026-01-30T13:03:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T07:33:03","slug":"india-saudi-security-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/29-01-2026\/india-saudi-security-partnership","title":{"rendered":"India-Saudi Arabia: Deepening Strategic Partnership in Security\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ International Relations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The 3rd India\u2013Saudi Arabia Security Working Group meeting was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Highlights of the India\u2013Saudi Security Dialogue<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Focus Areas:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Counter-terrorism cooperation, including emerging threats.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Countering extremism and radicalisation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Combating terror financing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Preventing misuse of technology for terrorist purposes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Addressing the nexus between <strong>transnational organised crime and terrorism.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Institutional Framework: <\/strong>The dialogue operates under the <strong>India\u2013Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC)<\/strong>, providing continuity and predictability to cooperation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India Saudi Arabia Relations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Political Relations: <\/strong>The two countries established diplomatic relations in <strong>1947.&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The royal visit of 2006 resulted in the signing of the <strong>Delhi Declaration,<\/strong> which was followed in 2010 by the <strong>Riyadh Declaration<\/strong> that elevated bilateral ties to a strategic partnership.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) Agreement<\/strong> was signed during the <strong>2019<\/strong> visit of the Indian PM to Riyadh, which established a high-level council to steer the Indo-Saudi relationship.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Economic Relations:<\/strong> India is Saudi Arabia\u2019s second-largest trade partner; Saudi Arabia is India\u2019s fourth-largest trade partner.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The bilateral trade between the partners stood at <strong>$43.3 billion in 2023-24<\/strong>. Saudi\u2019s direct investments in India amounted to <strong>$3.15 billion<\/strong> (as of March 2022).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Energy Cooperation: <\/strong>Saudi Arabia was India&#8217;s <strong>third largest <\/strong>crude and petroleum products source for <strong>FY23.&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India imported <strong>39.5 million metric tonnes (MMT)<\/strong> of crude from the country in FY23, amounting to <strong>16.7% <\/strong>of India\u2019s total crude imports.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India\u2019s LPG imports from Saudi Arabia stood at<strong> 7.85 MMT,<\/strong> and<strong> 11.2% <\/strong>of its total petroleum product imports, in FY 23.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Defence Cooperation:<\/strong>&nbsp; Saudi Arabia signed a<strong> $250 mn<\/strong> contract for ammunition from Munitions India Limited, a Defence Public Sector Undertaking.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Saudi Arabia has procured the <strong>155mm<\/strong> Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) from Bharat Forge.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Joint exercises:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sada Tanseeq:<\/strong> The inaugural Army exercise held in Rajasthan in January 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tarang Shakti:<\/strong> Saudi Arabia participated as an observer in India\u2019s largest air exercise.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Al Mohed Al Hindi:<\/strong> Bilateral naval exercise initiated in 2022.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indian diaspora:<\/strong> As of 2025, there were <strong>2.7 million<\/strong> Indians in Saudi Arabia. This is the second largest number of foreign workers in the country, after Bangladesh.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Balanced Regional Engagement: <\/strong>Sustain India\u2019s strategic autonomy by engaging Saudi Arabia alongside other Gulf partners, contributing to regional stability without entanglement in regional rivalries.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Legal and Judicial Cooperation:<\/strong> Improve mechanisms for extradition, mutual legal assistance, and information sharing to counter terrorism financing and organised crime networks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strengthen the Security Working Group<\/strong> under the Strategic Partnership Council to address emerging threats such as cyber-terrorism, lone-wolf attacks, and technology-enabled radicalisation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/india-holds-security-dialogue-with-saudi-arabia-after-defence-pact-with-uae\/article70562358.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The 3rd India\u2013Saudi Arabia Security Working Group meeting was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Key Highlights of the India\u2013Saudi Security Dialogue <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Focus Areas: <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Counter-terrorism cooperation, including emerging threats. <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Countering extremism and radicalisation. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/29-01-2026\/india-saudi-security-partnership \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"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-65398","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\/65398","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65398"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65456,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65398\/revisions\/65456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}