The French president goes to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, three key partners in Paris, December 3rd and 4th, with the program, the fight against terrorism and the signing of trade agreements .
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The French President, Emmanuel Macron, undertakes, Friday, December 3, a two-day visit to three Gulf monarchies, with which Paris has a double-edged relationship. This trip to the United Arab Emirates (water), Qatar and Saudi Arabia occurs about ten days after the disclose revelations on the excesses of Franco-Egyptian anti-terrorism cooperation, accused of leading to extrajudicial executions.
Customers in the hex arms industry, considered in the Elysée as interlocutors useful in the fight against terrorism, visited regimes constitute three key partners in Paris in the Middle East, but they are also allies. embarrassing because of their propensity to mislead human rights.
The President of the Republic will begin his tour Friday morning with a stop of a few hours in Dubai, the tourista-commercial capital of the water. He will meet the boss of fact of the Federation Emiratie, the very authoritative Mohammed Ben Zayed, says “Mbz”, the heir prince of the nearby emirate of Abu Dhabi. The trip will continue on the same day by a dinner in Doha, the capital of Qatar, with the local sovereign, Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thani. The Cité-State faces many criticisms on the working conditions of migrants allocated to the preparation of the football world cup, organized on its soil from 21 November to 18 December 2022.
The trip will end Saturday with a step in Jedda, the grand port of Western Saudi, where M. Macron will be able to share with the sulphurous Mohammed Ben Salman, “MBS”, the heir prince, on which still floats. The shadow of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist murdered in October 2018, in the Kingdom Consulate in Istanbul.
Contracts race
Officially, the tour should deepen the convergences between Paris and its Gulf partners in three areas: the fight against terrorism and the financing of radical Islamist movements; The stabilization of the Near East, with expected exchanges on the Lebanese economic debacle, the next presidential election in Libya, and the Iranian nuclear power; and finally the traditional business issues.
Emmanuel Macron should start his journey through this component. Several contracts, including the Elysée ensured not to reveal nature, should be signed Friday in Dubai. In particular, it would be a question of bursting the purchase by the Emirates of thirties, even of a sixty, gusting, the hunting plane already sold in Egypt and Qatar. Asked about by journalists, Anwar Gargash, a close counselor of Mohammed Ben Zayed, responded on a sibyllon tone: “I do not want to reveal the Christmas present.” The French delegation will count several bosses, including those of Safran and Thales, two types of the tricolor defense industry.
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