India and Saudi Arabia held their first talk on defence ties

The Joint Committee on defence cooperation from Saudi Arabia and India met for creation of defence ties on 11 September 2012. Decisions for this establishment of joint committees was decided during the visit of Indian defence minister A.K. Antony to Saudi Arabia and his meet with the Crown Prince and defence minister of Saudi Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud in February 2012.

The 11 member team from Saudi Arabia was headed by the Chief of the Armed Forces Operations of Saudi Arabia Maj Gen Suleiman Saleh Al-Khalifa. The Indian side was headed by the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence. Both the sides met for formulation of the program that can enhance the areas of cooperation between the defence establishments of two nations.

This upswing in the relationship between India and Saudi Arabia has been in existence ever since the visit of King Abdullah to New Delhi in the year 2006. The two nations inked several agreements on certain factors like narcotics, energy, money laundering, counterterrorism and extradition in the 2010.