Hafr Al Batin, Saudi Arabia: Emphasising the depth of historic bonds and strength of strategic ties between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Friday said the UAE and Saudi Arabia share an inclusive vision of cooperation and coordination on regional challenges.
“Close Emirati-Saudi military cooperation remains a safety valve against any potential threats the region could experience,” Shaikh Mohammad said in a statement following a military parade at the conclusion of the Northern Thunder exercise in northern Saudi Arabia.
Participation of the UAE in the manoeuvres, Shaikh Mohammad stressed, was a practical embodiment of its long-standing policy based on active engagement in any effort seeking to bolster cooperation and coordination in safeguarding regional security and stability.
Shaikh Mohammad indicated that the joint military exercises held in Saudi Arabia with the participation of 20 Arab and Islamic countries were the most important and largest-ever undertaken globally.
They demonstrated a high level of readiness and sophisticated military capabilities, he added.
He noted that the joint drills between forces from 20 nations that are different in terms of military doctrine, training plans and weapons provided a precious opportunity for sharing expertise in order to upgrade inter-troop coordination and combat capabilities.
“This huge military gathering in Saudi Arabia confirms the international confidence in its wise policies and its persistent effort for realising peace and stability in the region and the world as well as in its ability to act as a factor for unifying efforts of countries and coordinating among them to address the rapidly-changing and troubling regional and international reality,” Shaikh Mohammad said.
He stressed that the Northern Thunder military exercise showed that countries in the region were capable of turning challenges into opportunities through cooperation and coordination of capabilities and setting of solid foundations for a collective sustainable and active action towards common risks.
The region, he noted, is facing a rapidly changing threats and risks in terms of their magnitude, nature, sources and forces behind them and goals of these forces and tactics they apply which require armies of the region to maintain maximum state of preparedness and response in an active manner to any new threats through joint exercises, development of military tactics and plans consistent with the significant advancement taking place in military tactics in the world in areas of arms, plans and type of wars.
Shaikh Mohammad indicated that the North Thunder exercise's key message is that participating countries can join hands to protect their security, borders, gains and territorial integrity and work together to leverage their military readiness amidst a regional and international environment that needed maximum state of caution and preparedness.
&uuid=(email))