Article Posted on : - Sep 11, 2012

NEW DELHI (PTI): India and Saudi Arabia have decided to enhance their military exchanges at the first meeting of their joint committee on defence cooperation here on Monday.

The 11-member Saudi delegation was headed by Maj Gen Suleiman Saleh Al-Khalifa, Chief of the Armed Forces Operations of Saudi Arabia while the Indian side was represented by a Joint Secretary-level officer, a Defence Ministry statement said.

The decision to establish a Joint Committee was taken during the visit of Defence Minister A K Antony with the Saudi Defence Minister Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud in February.

The Joint Committee was mandated to formulate a programme to develop areas of cooperation between the defence establishments of both countries, the statement said.

"Proposals for exchange of high level visits, training exchanges and functional exchanges in various areas were discussed and will be finalised over the coming weeks," it said.