His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense received at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah Saturday President Emmanuel Macron of the Republic of France.
At the beginning of the meeting, HRH the Crown Prince welcomed the French President on his visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, while the French President expressed his happiness over his visit to the Kingdom and meeting with HRH the Crown Prince, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
HRH the Crown Prince conveyed to the French President the greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, while the French President sent his greetings to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
During the meeting, they reviewed aspects of the Saudi-French relations, areas of partnership between the two countries, the prospects of bilateral cooperation, and opportunities for their development in accordance with the Saudi Vision 2030.
The latest developments in the Middle East and the efforts to achieve the international stability and peace were also reviewed, and the points of view on a number of issues of common interest were exchanged.
The meeting was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy; Prince Turki bin Mohammad bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz, Minister of State and Member of the Cabinet; Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, Minister of Culture; Dr. Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, Minister of State, Member of the Cabinet and National Security Adviser; Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, Minister of Commerce and Acting Minister of Media; Eng. Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture; Eng. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, Minister of Investment; Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF); and Fahd bin Mayouf Al-Ruwaily, Saudi Ambassador to France.
The meeting was also attended by the delegation accompanying the French President.
HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense held a working luncheon banquet in honor of President Emmanuel Macron of the Republic of France, in the presence of Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, and a number of princes and ministers.
On Friday, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Emmanuel Macron, President of France, attended the signing of agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) between the UAE and France.
Both countries signed a record 14-billion-euro (US dollar 15.8 billion) contract for 80 French Rafale warplanes and committed billions of euros in other deals during Macron’s stopover.
From the UAE Macron headed to Doha where met, Friday evening, with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. On Saturday, the French President expressed appreciation to Qatar for helping to organize the latest evacuation to France of more than 250 threatened Afghans. The same flight carried 11 French nationals and about 60 from The Netherlands, along with dependents.
Qatar has played a significant role both in diplomacy and evacuations at the end of a 20-year war in Afghanistan by Western nations.
“I thank Qatar for the role it has played since the start of the crisis, and which permitted the organization of several evacuations,” said Macron, before heading to Saudi Arabia for the final leg of his two-day Gulf tour.
