NSA Doval undertakes visit to Saudi Arabia

NEW DELHI, Feb 3 : National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is on a visit to Saudi Arabia amid fast evolving geo-political situation in the Middle-East.

Doval is scheduled to hold talks with his Saudi interlocutors in Riyadh.

The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia announced his trip on social media.

Doval arrived in Riyadh on an official visit, it said.

He was received at the airport by Indian Ambassador Suhel Ajaz Khan and Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Saud Al-Sati.

In his previous assignment, Sati was Saudi Arabia’s envoy to India.

Doval’s visit comes amid rising tensions in the Middle-East over increasingly frosty ties between the US and Iran.

The US has already increased its military pressure in the Middle-East as it deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to the Arabian Sea.

US President Donald Trump has been asking Iran to negotiate a deal with the US on its nuclear programme.

Doval and his interlocutors are likely to discuss the state of bilateral ties as well as the regional security situation.

The visit comes months after Saudi Arabia and Pakistan sealed a defence pact to strengthen their decades-long defence ties. (PTI)