RIYADH: High-profile government officials from the Kingdom and France will attend the 2nd Saudi-French Business Opportunities Forum being held in Riyadh on Monday.
Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Prince Mohammed bin Salman and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls will deliver the opening speeches at the inaugural ceremony to be held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
The two-day event will also be attended by a high-powered French delegation comprising Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development Laurent Fabius, Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Ledrian, and Minister of Economy and Industry Emmanuel Macron.
Besides these key officials, representatives from more than 100 French companies will also attend the much anticipated event.
The welcome speech will be delivered by Mohamed Binladin, president of the Saudi-French Business Council.
According to French Ambassador Bertrand Besancenot, the forum will be a tremendous platform to link companies of both countries. The Saudi-French Business Opportunities Forum will be attended by a number of top statesmen, and business and community leaders from both countries who will spearhead the forum’s plenary sessions and workshops,” the envoy said.
The first edition of this forum was held in Paris in April 2013 and attracted more than 650 business and official participants.
In conjunction with this event, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Laurent Fabius, minister of foreign affairs and international development will lead the second session of the joint implementation committee on economic cooperation.
The economic ties between the Kingdom and France have been strengthened within the recent period.
The bilateral trade between the two countries reached, for the first time, 10 billion euros in 2014. This figure doubled over the last five years and increased by seven percent during the last year.
The French exports to the Kingdom amounted to around 1.5 billion euros in the first half of 2015. The Kingdom is the largest oil supplier to France, and there are now about 80 French companies currently operating in Saudi Arabia.
The volume of French investments in Saudi Arabia is more than SR74 billion across 207 projects, including joint ventures.
