Saudi chief of staff attends Dragon Group meeting in UK

LONDON: Saudi Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Fayyad bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili recently headed a Saudi delegation at the fifth annual meeting of the Dragon Group in London.
The Dragon Group is an annual forum for Middle East defense chiefs, with 10 countries taking part in the latest meeting, in addition to the GCC General Secretariat’s military affairs.
On the sidelines of the forum, Al-Ruwaili held bilateral talks with UK Chief of Defense Staff Adm. Sir Tony Radakin at the headquarters of the UK Ministry of Defense.
They reviewed strategic relations linking the two countries, opportunities to enhance military cooperation and ways to confront common challenges.
Earlier, Al-Ruwaili attended the Dragon Group meeting at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Defense chiefs discussed security challenges and threats to the region, most notably weapons smuggling and the dissemination of technologies to terrorist militias.
The Saudi chief of staff also held bilateral meetings with representatives from countries that attended the Dragon Group meeting.
During the meetings, he stressed the need to strengthen intelligence and security cooperation among Dragon Group member states to confront aggressive behaviors that target the stability of the region.
He urged the importance of meetings to exchange views, unify efforts and increase levels of coordination to support the security of the region.