French foreign minister arriving for talks with Saudi officials

Jean-Marc Ayrault, French minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, will arrive here Monday to hold talks with senior Saudi officials.
This will be the first visit by Ayrault to the Kingdom since he was appointed foreign minister early last year.
“During the visit, Ayrault will reaffirm the strategic partnership uniting France and Saudi Arabia, and will continue dialogue,” said a statement released by the French Foreign Ministry.
He “will have meetings with several of his Saudi interlocutors” including, “among others, King Salman and his Saudi counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir,” the statement added.
“With them, Ayrault will discuss the main regional issues, particularly the situations in Yemen, Iraq, Libya and Syria.”
The two sides will “reaffirm the priority which our counter-terrorism cooperation represents.”
The statement said: “Our economic ties with Saudi Arabia will be discussed during a meeting between the minister and Saudi figures in the economic and business worlds.”
Ayrault “will visit construction work on the Riyadh metro system, some of which is being carried out by the French company Alstom.”
Slimani Mounir, a spokesman for the French Embassy, said Ayrault would also visit the Riyadh-based King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) “to support and boost cooperation between KACST and two major French research institutions — the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the French National Center for Space Research (CNES).”
The spokesman said Ayrault would also visit the Misk Foundation.
Al-Jubeir met with Ayrault in Paris on Jan. 15 on the sidelines of a high-profile conference that was attended by about 70 world diplomats, including foreign ministers. The focus of the conference was how to boost the Middle East peace process.
The two countries have built a strong partnership, especially in the fields of defense, energy, health care, agriculture, transportation and infrastructure, culture, education, sport, science and technology, information, the environment, water and tourism.
With $15.3 billion of French foreign direct investment (FDI) in Saudi Arabia, France is the third-biggest investor in the Kingdom. More than 80 French mega-companies and subsidiaries have a direct presence in Saudi Arabia.

Source: Arab News