Government | Wednesday 24 June, 2015 3:50 am |

Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, headed to France on Tuesday on an official visit.
He will hold talks with President Francois Hollande and other senior French officials, a Royal Court statement said.

“The royal visit comes in response to an invitation from the French government and on the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman,” the Royal Court said, adding that the visit was aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two strategic allies.

Saudi-French relations have reached their peak under the leaderships of King Salman and President Hollande and the two countries are working together to boost security, stability and peace in the world, especially in the region.

The two countries express at every opportunity their full satisfaction with the development of bilateral relations in various political, economic, cultural and defense fields and identical views about a lot of common issues.
Events and developments in the region have proved the depth of relations between the two countries through continuous consultation between their leaderships to find the best ways to resolve the situations in the region.

France is a major trading partner of Saudi Arabia as it ranked eighth during the year 2012 among the top 10 countries that export to the Kingdom.
The volume of trade exchanges between the two countries has doubled to reach more than 10 billion euros in 2014, with an increase of 10% compared to 2013.
France represents the third largest investor in the Kingdom, and the value of foreign direct investment has amounted to $15.3 billion while the value of Saudi investment in France has reached 900 million euros.