Saudi-French talks to strengthen political, security, economic relations
French President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday held a round of talks with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. The talks lasted for more than one hour and were followed by a working supper in which French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine and his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud al-Faisal took part.
Talks centered on bilateral issues pertaining to the economic, security and political partnership set up by Chirac during his visit to Jeddah in July 1996. It was followed up by Vedrine during his visit to Saudi Arabia.
The two sides highlighted several regional issues pertaining to security in the Gulf region, Iraq, Iran, the arising dispute between Tehran and the Taleban movement in Afghanistan, and means of reviving the Middle East peace process.
Chirac, on the other hand, stated the factors behind launching the French-Egyptian initiative with his Egyptian counterpart on May 18, regarding the Middle East peace process.
Upon arriving in Paris, Prince Abdullah was welcomed by French Premier Lionel Jospin and Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, as an assertion of the interest of the French authorities in this visit.
On Monday, the spokeswoman for the French Foreign ministry said in a statement: "Saudi Arabia represents a major partner for us." She stressed that the two countries share "very similar" viewpoints concerning the security in the Gulf, Iraq, Iran and the need to relaunch the peace negotiations in the middle east.
Today, Crown Prince Abdullah will hold talks with Jospin, Vedrine and with the defense minister Allen Richard.
Crown Prince Abdullah on Wednesday concluded his visit to Britain and headed for Paris within his tour of European states.
The US ambassador to Saudi Arabia said that the crown prince will pay on September 23 an official visit to the US during which he will meet with US President Bill Clinton, Vice-President Al Gore and high-ranking officials in the US government.
In a press conference he held in Riyadh on Wednesday, the US ambassador said that crown Prince Abdullah's talks with US officials will cover several regional and international issues, foremost being the Middle East peace process.
Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said that the Middle East peace process is dying, adding that it is "admitted by all" that this gradual death is due to the Israeli intransigence in trying to invert the concepts of peace agreed upon in the Madrid conference.
In an exclusive statement to Al-Sharq Radio on Wednesday, the Saudi FM stressed that the Arab countries have proven their commitment to the peace process. He noted the unprecedented unanimous stance in the recent Arab Cairo summit in embarking on peace as the only strategic option. He indicated very urgent topics that needed to be settled, foremost being the questions of Jerusalem and the refugees.
The Saudi FM stressed that the Saudi position is part of the Arab collective position. He added that Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz does not carry with him any new initiatives concerning the Middle East peace process during his current tour of European states.