RIYADH – India’s Minister of State for Defence and Tourism Shri Ajay Bhatt is currently on a visit to Saudi Arabia in regards to the “World Defence Show”. It should be noted that joint military exercises between India and Saudi Arabia in the name of “Sada Coordination” are also ongoing. The Embassy of India in Riyadh organized a community meeting event with the visiting minister at the Embassy auditorium last night. The Minister of Defence participated along with senior officials of the Ministry and the Army in this event. Addressing the gathering on this occasion, Ajay Bhatt said that I have come to Saudi Arabia for the first time and I felt like home when I came here. Here he found great cordial atmosphere and sincerity in meetings with his counterpart and other high rank officials. Along with the Defence Minister, the delegation included top women officials of Army, Navy and Air Force. During his speech, he invited these women officials on the stage and introduced them to the community saying that they are the proud daughters of our country. He added that they are working side by side with men in the Army, Naval and Air Force divisions of Defence. He said that they were happy to know that Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan of Riyadh, the US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, had a special meeting with these Indian women military officials.
Ajay Bhatt emphasized that the BJP government is giving special significance to “Nari Sashaktikaran” (Women empowerment). Modi government will pass 33% reservation bill for women in assembly and parliament and will also give reservation to women in other sectors of life. He also shed light on the developments during the 10-year tenure of the BJP Govt.
He said that Indo-Saudi relations are of historical importance. Recently, Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and his Saudi counterpart Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited each other’s countries twice. This shows the deep and valuable relationship between the two countries.
The program started with the cultural dance and patriotic songs performance by the students of International Indian Public School Riyadh [IIPS] and International Indian School Riyadh [IISR]. These performances were high appreciated by the Minister. He said that he was very much impressed by the cultural show presented by the students. The good thing is that the children are connected with their culture even though they are away from their homeland, he said.
Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr. Suhel Ajaz Khan welcomed the visiting Minister with a bouquet. He said that the Minister of Defence met with his counterpart Khalid bin Salman, senior officials of the Ministry of Defence and senior military officers of the Kingdom. The Indian Minister had a comprehensive discussion on matters of mutual interest, he added. Dr. Suhel also said that there has been an increase in high-level delegation meetings between India and Saudi Arabia recently. Due to which India-Saudi relations are developing at every level.
First Secretary, PIC Wing, Embassy of India, Muhammad Shabeer anchored this event. A large number of the Indian community and friends of India attended the event. They also took group photos with the Defence Minister at the conclusion of the event.
