Paris: In a special issue devoted to Saudi Arabia, the magazine inspirationorgan of the French Business Movement, Medef, addresses, in a series of interviews with high-level personalities, the different aspects of Franco-Saudi relations and their development potential.
Anxious to strengthen the economic and commercial ties that link France to Arabia, Medef, which brings together representatives of large French companies, emphasizes through this special issue the quality of bilateral relations built over several decades, “ which demonstrate the desire to maintain this link and stimulate exchanges.
These old relations, concretized in 1839 with the opening of the first French consulate in Jeddah, have been strengthened over the years, affirms the magazine, through contacts between the leaders of the two countries and the exchange of bilateral visits.
In April 2018, the Crown Prince paid a visit to Paris, then President Macron went to Jeddah in December 2021, for a visit closed with a joint press release emphasizing “the importance of strengthening common action and supporting bilateral relations as well as the strategic partnership towards new promising horizons”.
They gained in intensity from 2017, the date of the first meeting between President Emmanuel Macron and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, and subsequently deepened by drawing on the will of the two leaders.
In April 2018, the Crown Prince paid a visit to Paris, then President Macron went to Jeddah in December 2021, for a visit closed with a joint press release emphasizing “the importance of strengthening common action and supporting bilateral relations as well as the strategic partnership towards new promising horizons”.
The two leaders agreed on the need to exploit the opportunities arising from the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and the France 2030 economic plan in the various sectors of common interest.
From one visit to another – the last of which dates back to June 2023 – they managed to weave what the magazine describes as “a strategic partnership faithful to our historical relationship and reinvented in the light of the challenges that are the ours.”
The magazine reports that this last visit constituted, among other things, an opportunity for France to support Saudi Arabia's candidacy for the organization of the 2030 Universal Exhibition.
For his part, the president of the Medef metropolis committee, Charles Znaty underlines in an editorial published by the magazine, that trade between the two countries is growing and that in 2023 they reached around 9.5 billion euros. euros, an increase of 18 percent compared to 2016, the date of the launch of Vision 2030.
It also indicates that France “supports the Saudi cultural and tourist influence”, in particular the development of the AlUla region, an exceptional archaeological jewel.
Among the twenty people interviewed by the magazine, the president of the French Agency for the Development of AlUla, Jean-Yves Le Drian, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, details the missions of the agency he chairs and expresses his great satisfaction with France's choice to support this vast project.
He adds that through this project, Saudi Arabia “reconnects with its great history and reminds the world of the Kingdom’s very ancient contribution to the universal narrative.”
Franco-Saudi relations also include significant military cooperation, highlighted by the president of Arquus, a company specializing in the construction of military land vehicles.
The Saudi Ambassador to France and to UNESCO, Fahd Alruwaily, underlines that “under the leadership of the Crown Prince, the Kingdom is experiencing an unprecedented phase of economic and social development”, which “creates the appropriate conditions for more partnership and win-win cooperation.
Thus, he continues, the two friendly countries “have developed close cooperation ties, to strengthen the defense of security, peace and international law”, at the regional and international levels.
Franco-Saudi relations also include significant military cooperation, highlighted by the president of Arquus, a company specializing in the construction of military land vehicles. Emmanuel Levacher indicates that Saudi Arabia, where his company has been established for many years, is “a key country”.
Levacher considers that the Kingdom “has a dynamic employment pool with particularly qualified youth, capable of developing a robust and sustainable defense ecosystem”.
He believes that offering “the right products and the right customer approach” are “the guarantee of a real, sincere long-term partnership”.
Without forgetting the human dimension, the magazine gives the floor to the deputy for the 10th constituency of French people established outside France, Amélia Lakrafi, who estimates that the French residing in Arabia, numbering seven thousand people, constitute the largest European community .
This is for several reasons. On the one hand, she indicates, there is “the reforming desire of the Kingdom embodied by Vision 2030” but on the other hand “there is a mutual curiosity between France and Saudi Arabia and therefore the desire to weave links”.
The senator representing French people established outside France, and president of the France-Gulf countries friendship group Olivier Cadic, for his part praises the merits and the size of the Saudi market, and affirms that “in the United States, it is necessary think big”, but that in Arabia “you have to think huge”.
“Having financial, material and human capital, but also a real vision for its economy and its population, Saudi Arabia continues to surprise us,” he says.
The other interviews published by the magazine cover many subjects of common interest such as the environment and renewable energies, transport, aeronautics as well as improving the quality of life of Saudis.
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