RIYADH: Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to inspect the second stage of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition’s (IMCTC) military exercise, Joint Gulf Shield.
The PM and army chief are accompanied by a high-level delegation that includes Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir as well.
The delegation will witness the second stage of the Joint Gulf Shield exercise that involves Saudi Arabia and 24 other countries, and includes units from the army, navy, air force and the Special Forces. The exercise is meant to run for a month.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz extended invitations to allied countries in a bid to shore up the Kingdom’s military cooperation. As a result, invitations to participate in the exercise were extended to the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Turkey.