France's defense minister meets Saudi counterpart
Saudi Arabia, Military, 7/29/1997

French Defense Minister Alain Richard held talks on bilateral cooperation with his Saudi counterpart Prince Sultan in the port city of Jeddah, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said late on July 28.

Richard, who was appointed in June after parliamentary elections, made a detour to the kingdom on his way from Egypt to France for what Prince Sultan had called a "familiarization visit."

"We support cooperation between the two countries, the kingdom and France, in terms of economic cooperation and the development of joint industries between the two countries," Prince Sultan said in remarks carried by SPA.

Richard returned to France on July 28 after spending several hours in the kingdom.

France, which buys one quarter of its oil from Saudi Arabia, is the kingdom's third biggest arms supplier after the United States and Britain.

"The minister did not come to negotiate contracts. That is the task of the industrialists. The government's role is to see if everything is going well and eventually to bring its expertise," a spokesman said.

The two men discussed the Middle East peace process, ties with Iraq and Iran as well as security in the Gulf, and "agreed on most regional problems," the spokesman added.

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