Germany to train Saudi army

Germany has agreed to boost defence cooperation with Saudi Arabia and train its military officers.

Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defence, Mohammed Bin Salman, held talks with German Defence Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, in Riyadh yesterday, to discuss key regional issues and challenges confronting the Middle East.

Michael Ohnmacht, deputy chief of the mission at the German Embassy in Riyadh, said: “The talks between Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed and the German minister focused on ways and means to beef up Saudi-German cooperation in different areas including high-level exchanges, personnel education and training, defence, mutual visits and security affairs.”

Ohnmacht also added that “a draft agreement for training Saudi military officers in Germany is ready to be signed soon.” He said that the two sides would “enhance” military cooperation and work closely to make strong ties a key aspect of bilateral relations.

Asked about specific issues that featured during the talks, the German diplomat said that “bilateral relations and regional issues with special reference to training Saudi military officials and counter-terrorism efforts topped the agenda of the talks.”

The Kingdom and Germany are close allies at regional and international levels. Germany has a high-tech prosperous defence industry which it exports to various countries.