From Paris to Riyadh, Since 1839

From Paris to Riyadh, Since 1839

They say that old wines get better with age, and so do relationships. France celebrated its 175th anniversary in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2014. Marking one of the longest presences in any nation.

From the first meeting between General de Gaulle in 1967 and then King Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, we have evolved to a better, stronger, and deeper standard of personal relations with the French government and the people.

The present President of France, Mr. Francois Hollande, has been closely associated with the Kingdom since his election in 2012. During his last year’s visit to the Kingdom, he met the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz; the relationship has without a doubt grown over these 50 years.

Honored as a guest at the GCC summit, the President of France invigorated the meeting with his presence. It revived the strategic partnership between the two nations.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, Interior Minister of the Kingdom, visited France last year after ascending the throne, where he received the ‘Legion of Honor’, the highest honor in France.

These ‘honors’ to each other speak for themselves as to the bond Paris and Riyadh share.

Recently, the visionary Prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, decided to visit France and discussed a dozen ideas pertaining to the Saudi Vision 2030.

He also emphasized the development of the bilateral relations between the two great nations.

The Crown Prince as well as the Deputy Crown Prince met the French President Hollande, Prime Minister Manuel Valls and many other renowned officials.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, Defense Minister, and Jean-Marc, International Development Minister, were also among the many diplomats who discussed with the Royals.

France shares a similar viewpoint to that of Riyadh on Middle East issues like Syria, Iraq, Iran, and demands a similar peace process towards the same.

This could be seen in that the conservative Kingdom’s Shoura Council and France’s Parliament have had a strong and deep bond and an intense understanding of various issues. This happened over the years and with multiple visits by both sides.

The continuous interaction between Paris and Riyadh is the depiction of the bilateral and strategic inquisitiveness each of them has towards a common goal.

The meeting between the Royals and the French President was an aim to achieve commonness and a prolonged sense of stability and longevity benefiting both nations.

This could be seen in the various recent meetings, especially the one in May, 2015. After which Prince Mohammad Bin Sultan, the main brain behind Saudi Vision 2030, and Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister of Foreign Affairs, France, held two joint committees, co-chaired by these two. The 3^rd one was held just a while ago. It focused on determining common goals and ways to deepen bilateral relations. Also, the focus of the meeting would be enhancing and improving the new concepts and prospects of the National Transformation Program (NTP) as adopted to be implemented by 2020.

Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman with President Hollande of France.

President Hollande has appreciated the socio-economic reforms of the NTP by the Saudi government under the Vision 2030 program and assured his presence throughout, along with the private investors, as well as joining the Saudi citizens in these times of ‘economy switching’, i.e., transforming from oil dependence to non-oil dependence.

Of all the committees, the one in October last year held in Riyadh was one of a kind as the Prime Minister of France led a delegation including various leaders from different branches at the Saudi French Business Forum. This was an appreciable step by Mr. Manuel Valls, indicating how serious they are in working along with the oil-rich Kingdom.

This historic forum included 130 French firms and around 2,000 attendees. Not only this, the French consulate had organized business gatherings which included top business leaders from Saudi Arabia as well as France in the capital in order to work and improve the Saudi business ideas and investments in various sectors of the economy.

                                                                                            

France has confirmed its participation and alliance with the visionary Arabia in its implementation of the National Transformation Program 2020. This bond is also focusing on the nucleus of health care, agriculture, along with infrastructure, sports, and cultural education too, between the two great civilizations. Information and technology are another pillar of the Saudi Prince’s idea of the educated youth of the country. The other developments would be water, housing, tourism, and heritage.

France is also willing to work with Riyadh's defense- and energy-related side.

France, being among the top 3 investors in the Kingdom, has invested $15.3 billion as FDI (foreign direct investment). Not to forget, it was France that introduced the concept of Geant to Saudi Arabia around a decade ago. It was a different thing that Prince Waleed Bin Talal took over it soon after. Presently, they have a little less than 100 subsidiaries working in Saudi Arabia. CAC 40 (Paris Index) is one of the many major indices.

These subsidiaries have a whopping 27,600 employees, including 10,000 Saudis.

France alone has 20-plus Saudi Arabian-invested companies. The number of employees there is around 3,200, as per estimates, with a turnover of 350 million euros, as per Bertrand Besancenot, French Ambassador to the Kingdom.

The reason for the closeness between the two countries is also because, as per speculations, the Kingdom’s oldest ally, the U.S wasn’t promising enough on various issues about the region, mostly the Iranian nuclear program. The U.S. had been the oldest and one of the closest allies of the Kingdom since 1945.

To enhance the economic and political relations in times when the U.S, their closest friend, doesn’t seem to be promising enough, France would be a wise option to supplant the age-old U.S. Though not completely as the main ally, France can be the main supplier of advanced military technology for the oil-rich Kingdom in the near future, considering the relationship the two countries share.

With the nuclear deal 3 years ago, France has been with Saudi Arabia ever since, albeit not favoring Tehran on trusting the nuclear power as well as questioning Iran on its commitment to end the ability to build a nuclear bomb.

Though it’s a little early to comment on the Paris-Tehran relationship, proximity of Paris with Riyadh might be impacting the pressure on the former’s relationship. It cannot be denied that during the P5+1 talks, France is said to have taken the toughest stance against Iran’s nuclear programs, which didn’t go unnoticed by Saudi leaders.

Paris has been one of the oldest allies of the Kingdom, which has been built over mutual consent over the years. The first French Embassy in Jeddah dates back to the 19^th Century.

This was visible with the tweets that started flowing in from the French officials just after the terrorist attacks carried out in Jeddah, Madinah and Qatif in Ramadan, as France was among the first of the many countries to condemn these horrific incidents just hours after the disastrous blasts. They even emphasized the Kingdom’s religious sacredness and that it is the only nation that represents Islam and Muslims in the best form to the outside world and that terrorists and terrorism belong to no specific belief. It assured its steadfastness in times like these and promised to fight alongside the Islamic Kingdom against terror plotters.

Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s recent visit to France and his meeting with President Francois Hollande in Elysee was speculated about in the media that both Paris and Riyadh are close to each other and that there is a growing compatibility between the two on sundry topics in the region.

This was seen during the assemblage of the delegation of the young and vibrant Prince Mohammed and associates with that of the French officials, which included Prime Minister Manuel Valls and many other leaders from the public as well as the private sector.

This trip came into effect just after Prince Mohammad’s delegation visited the U.S.

It is reported that several serious and worrying situations in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon were discussed. France also took the initiative to launch peace talks between the age-old Israel –Palestine conflict.

Both sides exchanged their views on issues and mutual interests and discussed all the possible ways to tackle the upcoming Daesh and lauded the possible efforts needed in the region of Iraq-Syria to counter these sorts of terrorist acts.

The 2 are committed and have assured each other in the long run towards a tough stance on terrorism and strengthening international security and stability.

As per reports, the 2 are also focused on working and bringing into force the formation of an anti-terrorist Islamic Military Alliance to combat terrorism.

Working towards a credible political solution about the ongoing 5-year-old crisis in Syria, France and Saudi Arabia want to have negotiations between the Syrian parties, as per the Geneva statement and the solutions presented by the United Nations Security Council.

Providing free and immediate aid to the bereaved and displaced Syrians in the war is the main stress by Paris and Riyadh together.

To reduce the tension in the region, they have also agreed to support the Iraqi government for a final solution to the catastrophe. Emphasizing a national reconciliation program involving all sectors and components of society there. One year old Yemen war was also among the top discussions. The grave deteriorating condition was also a grave concern as expressed by the two allies.

The above talks could be inferred that Paris was willing to initiate every step towards peace in the region along with KSA.

Lebanon’s general elections were also one of the various topics of discussion, which will play an important role in regional stability.

Saudi Arabia is keen to keep up the momentum along with Paris officials for the future stability condition in the Middle East and the ongoing happenings. France, along with Saudi Arabia, has also been a continuous condemner of Iran over its interference in the affairs of the Arab world.

The relation between the two seems impregnable as France is functioning as closely as possible with the Islamic Arabia to know its future socio-economic plans and projects and assist it in its National Transformation Plan of 2020 along with the delegates of the country and its officials.

One of the leading newspapers, Alsharq Al Awsat, reported that the Movement of the Enterprises of France (MEDEF) is also among one of the many leading partners in Saudi’s National Transformation Program along with other public and private sectors. France is the top third among the top 3 foreign investors in the Kingdom.

All in all, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman’s recent visit to France further deepened the friendship. This had come after King Salman Bin Abdulaziz had been to Paris in 2014, after which the relationship had blossomed.

Last year’s joint committee meeting in Riyadh was seen as a tremendous step towards a joint initiative and planning of a better future for both nations together.

In the meeting, there were nearly 1,000 business leaders and associates from both France and Saudi Arabia. Attended by the Prime Minister of France, the event was notable.

One of the French business entrepreneurs even went to the extent of saying Saudi Arabia was the ‘main partner’ and that it had an influential place in the World Organization for Trade.

Desirous to work together, the French businessman said they had the best possible proposals for the Kingdom’s needs and that it would be great for both countries to work together, as both had visionary ideas, referring to the much-talked-about vision of Saudi Arabia.

French officials have been reported saying that Prince Mohammed’s visit to the U.S and then to France held an important place and that it had come at about the right time when it was much needed.

French sources have also revealed that this was a much-awaited meeting and that it holds ‘double importance’ as it involves Saudi Vision 2030 as well as the National Transformation Plan 2020.

Indeed, the process is slow, but it cannot be denied that these two great nations have come hand in hand to combat various fumed-up issues and would settle terrorism once and for all with the kind of continuous meetings they have been holding.

Nevertheless, this is certainly going to be a cherry on top for the nation’s vision of 2030.