DAMMAM – Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi attended the closing ceremony of Gulf Shield-1 joint military exercise at Dammam in Saudi Arabia on Monday.
The month-long exercise Gulf Shield-1 was participated by troops from 24 countries and was aimed at strengthening “military and security cooperation and coordination” among the regional countries.
The Prime Minister has attended the exercises on the special invitation of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also had a meeting with the Saudi King Shah Salman in Saudi city of Dammam.
Minister for Defense Khurram Dastgir Khan and Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa also accompanied the prime minister.
Troops of the Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force C-130 aircraft, JF-17 Thunder Fighter jets, Pakistan Navy ships, and commandos from Special Services Group also participated in the exercise.
According to the spokesman for Joint Gulf Shield-1, Brig Gen Abdullah Al-Subaie, the exercise featured two types of military operations; conventional military operations that involved coastal defense attacks against the enemy, besides the irregular war operations carried out by besieging and penetrating villages and industrial installations to cleanse them of hostile elements.
The exercise also displayed military uniformity among the participating countries, in addition to the development of a sense of collective security, unity and common destiny.
The closing ceremony was attended among others by Saudi King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Arab leaders including Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Egyptian President Adulfattah el-Sisi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and ruler of the Emirate of Dubai, King Abdullah II of Jordan, and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Hasina Wajid.
