ISLAMABAD: The closing ceremony of the “Al Kassa-IV,” a joint military exercise between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, was held at the Military College of Engineering in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Risalpur on Thursday. 

Royal Saudi Land Forces soldiers and Pakistan Army troops participated in the exercise, according to the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

“The two week-long exercise was aimed at sharing mutual experiences in the field of Route Search, Area Search, Vehicle/ Personal search and Area clearance operations,” the ISPR said. 

The special focus areas of the exercise included drills and techniques relating to Improvised Explosives Devices (IED), Vehicle Improvised Explosive Devices (VIED), anti-suicidal, victim-operated improvised explosive devices and handling of explosives the ISPR said. 

This was the fourth joint exercise of the Al-Kassah series, which is a part of the bilateral military cooperation between both friendly countries. 

Engineer-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army witnessed the closing ceremony as its chief guest while a high-level military delegation from Saudi Arabia, headed by Director General Engineers Major General Saad Misfer Alqahtani, also attended the closing ceremony.

Joint military relations between the two countries expanded with the mutual cooperation program of 1967 under which Pakistan provides large-scale combined military training to Saudi armed forces. 

A 1982 protocol agreement widened the scope of military cooperation to include cooperation in defense production and science and technology.

Since then, both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have continued sharing military and intelligence data under a number of joint drills between their armies, navies, and airforces.