Saudi Arabia, France said to agree on new defense contracts policy

Saudi Arabia and France have agreed on a new inter-governmental pact to conclude weapons deals, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed French defense ministry official.

“In conjunction with the Saudi authorities, France has initiated a new arms export strategy with Saudi Arabia, which until now has been managed by ODAS,” the official said, referring to the organization that currently handles French defense interests in Saudi Arabia.

“It will now be covered by an inter-governmental agreement between the two countries. The ODAS company will only provide for the termination of existing contracts,” the official added, without giving details.

The new agreement comes as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also the country’s defense minister, started his three-day visit to France on Sunday.

France, the world’s third-biggest arms exporter, counts Saudi Arabia among its biggest purchasers, and defense firms including Dassault and Thales have major contracts in the Kingdom, the news agency said.

Meanwhile, as part of his French tour, Prince Mohammed is expected to meet President Emmanual Macron on Tuesday, Reuters said in a separate report.

He will also attend cultural events and an economic forum.

A tourism project between Paris and Riyadh also likely to be announced, the report said.

On the sidelines of the Crown Prince's visit, the Saudi-French Business Council will hold its meeting in Paris, with the participation of Saudi and French businessmen, to discuss aspects of cooperation in various fields, president of Saudi-French Business Council Mohammed bin Laden was quoted as saying by state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Prince Mohammed is expected to head to Spain later this week, according to Reuters.

Crown Prince has undertaken this year a number of foreign trips, starting with his tour of Egypt and the UK. Prince Mohammed concluded his three-week long US tour last week.