France–Saudi Arabia relations
France |
Saudi Arabia |
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France–Saudi Arabia relations are the foreign relations between
History
In the 16th century, Ottoman Arabia together with the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman the Magnificent had a military, cultural and trade alliance with the Kingdom of France. France opened its first consulate in Jeddah in 1839, decades before Saudi Arabia was officially formed.[5]
Both Saudi Arabia and France were opposed to the Axis in World War II, in which Saudi Arabia supplied oil to the Allies. Afterwards, Saudi Arabia was aligned with NATO countries against communism.
Since
In the 1970s, after a large group of islamic extremists invaded the Grand mosque in Mecca, France sent special police to help the Saudi police and military.[6]
France joined the
In 2016, France condemned the
State visits
An official visit in May 2015 by French president
In 2015, French President Francois Hollande was invited by Saudi Arabia to address a Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Saudi Arabia, a role not often given to a foreign head of state. [citation needed]
On 6 March 2016, A joint communiqué was signed between Saudi Arabia and France at the end of the official visit to Paris of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif.[8]
In May 2016, a delegation of the Saudi French Parliamentary Friendship Committee of the Shura Council had a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault at the French Foreign Ministry in Paris.[9]
On 4 December 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron ended a short tour of Gulf states by meeting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah.[10]
Economic relations
According to Al Arabiya New sources these contracts, which highlight Paris growing ties with Riyadh, are “the first signs of a much stronger Saudi-French alliance, and the next few months are going to demonstrate exactly just how close these two allies have now become.”[11]
A forum was established for Saudi-French expanding trade known as the Saudi French Business Opportunities Forum. The First Forum was successfully held in Paris in April 2013 under the auspices of BSF, and was organized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy and Industry, the Council of Saudi Chambers, and the Saudi-French Business Council.[12] A second meeting was held in October 12–13, 2015 in the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, featuring France's largest corporations such as Airbus and Legrand.
Military relations
France is a primary seller of arms to Saudi Arabia (after the United States and United Kingdom) and has potential to outgrow both in many fields. In Wednesday, 24 June 2015 Saudi Arabia and France agreed to sign $12 billion of deals, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that the ten contracts include 23 Airbus H145 helicopters worth $500 million. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that the Saudi defense ministry was also discussing the price for a contract for French naval patrol boats, built by DCNS.[11] In 2015 France signed a 10B$ arms deal with Saudi Arabia to supply 30 patrol boats.[13]
Amid the on-going war in Yemen, Saudi Arabia signed a preliminary agreement with the Naval Group of France in February 2019, to build warships, frigates, corvettes and related items in the kingdom.[14]
In 2020, the entire delegation of French MEPs from the liberal Renew Europe group stood against the export of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. France has reportedly supplied billions of euros worth weapons to both the Gulf nations while they were involved in the civil wars of Yemen and Libya, respectively. According to several reports published by investigative journalism and human rights groups, UAE and Saudi have caused thousands of civilian deaths in the named conflicts. The French government has sold weapons to the nations and trained their mercenaries despite the violation of arms embargo and international humanitarian law committed by the Gulf nations.[15]
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Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Paris
See also
References
- ^ Bahout, Joseph. "French Relations with Saudi Arabia".
- ^ a b "France and Saudi Arabia enjoy close and confident relationship". 13 July 2016.
- ^ "Ambassade de France en Arabie Saoudite".
- ^ "France".
- ^ "France and Saudi Arabia enjoy close and confident relationship".
- ^ "Mecca 1979: The mosque siege that changed the course of Saudi history". BBC News. 27 December 2019.
- ^ "تصريح الناطق باسم وزارة الشؤون الخارجية والتنمية الدولية الفرنسي".
- ^ https://www.saudiembassy.net/saudi-france-joint-communiqué-0[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Majlis Ash-Shura - Shura Council delegation Concludes Visit to France". Retrieved 1 January 2017.
- ^ "Macron wraps up Gulf tour in Saudi with MBS meeting". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
- ^ a b "Saudi Arabia and France ink $12bln deal". 24 June 2015.
- ^ الفرنسي, البنك السعودي. "BSF sponsors the 2nd Saudi-French Business Opportunities Forum - Banque Saudi Fransi". Retrieved 1 January 2017.
- ^ "France and Saudi Arabia sign contracts worth 10 billion euros". 13 October 2015.
- ^ "Saudi Arabia signs warship construction deal with France's Naval Group". Reuters. 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- ^ "Exposed: French complicity in Yemen and Libya". EU Observer. Retrieved 18 November 2020.