IN what could be called a matter of great honour and pride for Pakistan, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa was conferred with the King Abdulaziz medal, the highest award of Saudi Arabia, for his contributions towards enhancing defence cooperation between the two countries.
During a meeting, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Army Chief Bajwa also agreed on enhancing defence cooperation in the fields of joint training, air defence, counter-terrorism and communication and information domain.
The conferment of award on Bajwa is a reflection of brotherly bonds that exist between the two countries.
General Bajwa indeed has played a crucial role in further bringing the two sides closer in the realm of defence and security.
The defence cooperation between Pakistan and KSA spans over a period of five decades or so and most of this cooperation has remained focus on holding joint exercises and providing training to Saudi personnel which helped greatly in sharing of knowledge and experience.
Then Saudi Arabia also purchases small and medium conventional weaponry from Pakistan. It also had been the buyer of trainer aircraft Super Mushshak.
However, the KSA is still heavily reliant on purchases worth hundreds of billions of dollars from the United States to meet its defence requirements.
Given the level of trust and understanding between Pakistan and KSA, we will suggest both the sides to take their defence cooperation to the next level by entering into joint ventures for production of high tech defence equipment.
Saudi Arabia has the resources whilst over the years Pakistan’s defence industry has tremendously bolstered its capability and gone high tech because of which it is today manufacturing not only tanks but also JF-17 thunder fighter jet, the latest version of which is described as the fourth generation plus fighter jet.
Hence, if both the countries cooperate in this area, they can achieve great milestones and to a great extent meet their requirements indigenously.
This will help them cut their defence-related imports and the money saved thereof then can be spent on further defence related research.
Cyberspace has also become a new battleground in the modern era. With their collective resources, they can effectively handle this arena as well.
