NSA Ajit Doval visits Saudi amid Gaza peace plan developments

The visit will be an opportunity for the Saudi side to brief India on the pact with Pakistan and the latest developments related to the Gaza Peace Plan.

New Delhi: National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval travelled to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a previously unannounced visit against the backdrop of key developments related to the Gaza Peace Plan.

The NSA is the most senior Indian official to visit Saudi Arabia since the kingdom concluded a mutual defence agreement with Pakistan last September. (ANI)

Doval arrived in Riyadh five days after a visit to Iran by deputy national security adviser Pavan Kapoor. The only official word on Doval’s visit was a social media post by the Indian embassy in Riyadh, which said that the NSA was received at the airport by Indian envoy Suhel Khan and Saudi deputy minister Saud Al-Sati, a former ambassador to New Delhi.

The NSA is the most senior Indian official to visit Saudi Arabia since the kingdom concluded a mutual defence agreement with Pakistan last September.

The visit will be an opportunity for the Saudi side to brief India on the pact with Pakistan and the latest developments related to the Gaza Peace Plan, people familiar with the matter said.

The visit also came a little more than a fortnight after a trip to India by United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, during which the two sides unveiled plans for finalising a strategic defence partnership and set a target for doubling bilateral trade to $200 billion.

On January 28, Saudi Arabia condemned the Pahalgam terror attack and the Red Fort terror incident at a meeting of the bilateral security working group. The two sides also reviewed ongoing security cooperation, and discussed threats posed by terror groups globally and in their regions.

Saudi Arabia also attended the India-Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi over the weekend that backed a two-state solution to the Palestinian issue.