Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday met Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of Defence Prince Khalid bin Salaman bin Abdulaziz to discuss matters of mutual interest, a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
“Matters of mutual interest including bilateral defence, security cooperation and regional security were discussed,” ISPR added.
The army chief arrived in Riyadh on Monday and met the Saudi military leadership to discuss “military to military ties including training exchanges" according to the military's media wing.
"Gen Bajwa was received by Saudi Arabia's Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces General Fayyad Al-Ruwaili upon his arrival at the defence ministry," ISPR had said.
Gen Bajwa had also met Lieutenant General (Staff) Fahad bin Turki Al Saud, Commander Joint Forces, Saudi Arabia.
"During the meeting, prospects for military cooperation and ways to support and boost it were reviewed, in addition to matters of common concern," the Saudi government said in a statement.
The army chief is accompanied by Director-General Inter-Servies Intelligence Lt Gen. Faiz Hameed on his trip to Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, DG ISPR Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar had confirmed to Reuters that the army chief was travelling to Saudi Arabia, saying that the visit was pre-planned and "primarily military affairs oriented."
