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France concluded the sale of 80 Rafale aircraft to the UAE
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Between France and the Gulf countries, a series of arms deals that generate financial returns for Paris, place it in the ranks of the partner that guarantees the security of the region, and contribute to the development of the military arsenals of those countries, and the diversification of their armament sources.
The visit of French Minister of Armies Sebastien Locorno to the Gulf between 6 and 11 September raises questions about deals and areas of military cooperation that may be agreed upon.
The French ministry announced that Locorno’s visit to Saudi Arabia is “the first by a French minister of armies in five years” and falls within the framework of “the dynamic of resuming talks” and will include a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as well as Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman.
In Kuwait, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Sheikh Ahmad Fahd Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, is scheduled to meet and discuss “cooperation at the operational level,” provided that the agenda for the talks includes the issue of “training the military.”
He is also scheduled to meet with French soldiers stationed in Kuwait as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, an international coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
In the United Arab Emirates, Locorno is expected to meet UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Defense Minister Mohammed Al Bowardi. He will also visit French forces in the UAE, according to the French ministry.
What are the most prominent arms deals between the Gulf states and France?
France is among the top five arms exporters in the world, and its arms sales increased by 72 percent between 2015 and 2019.
The Middle and Near East region attracted the majority of French arms sales in 2022.
According to a report by the Stockholm Institute for International Peace Research issued in 2023, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt are among the ten countries that import most weapons in the world.
The Gulf states have had defense cooperation agreements and arms deals with France since the 1990s.
Kuwait was the first to sign a defense agreement with France in 1992, which was renewed in 2009. As for the UAE, it joined it three years later.
In 2009, a permanent French force of more than 650 personnel was stationed in the Emirates, in addition to the signing of huge armament contracts, making Abu Dhabi the fifth largest customer of French military equipment in the last ten years, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.
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The French Minister of Armies will meet with bin Salman, bin Zayed, and the defense ministers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Emirates
French arms sales achieved a record level of 27 billion euros in 2022, according to the French House of Representatives, and this is due to a contract concluded by Paris with the UAE to purchase the latter 80 Rafale fighters, with a value of 16 billion dollars.
In 2016, France approved permits to supply arms worth up to 18 billion euros to Saudi Arabia. Two years later, France announced the signing of a new government agreement with Riyadh for arms deals.
France ranked second for arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia with a rate of 6.4 percent, and ranked the same for Qatar with 29 percent, and the third for Kuwait with 9 percent, in the period between 2018 and 2022.
In 2015, France and Kuwait signed an agreement to supply the latter with weapons and military equipment worth one and a half billion euros, which included 30 Caracal aircraft, armored vehicles, and the modernization of Coast Guard ships.
France sold 24 aircraft to Qatar worth 6.3 billion euros in the same year. Two years later, Qatar announced the signing of arms deals and the completion of infrastructure projects worth $14 billion with French companies, according to which it purchased 12 Rafale warplanes, about 500 military vehicles, and 50 Airbus planes to transport passengers.
The French partnership with both the UAE and Saudi Arabia sparked criticism of Paris by human rights organizations, for supporting two regimes accused of human rights violations and involvement in the conflict in Yemen, which prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to ask Riyadh and Abu Dhabi not to use French-made weapons in the conflict.
The military field between France and the Gulf states was not limited to arms deals. In 2018, France, along with the United States, Britain and Pakistan, participated in military exercises in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia, under the name “Gulf Shield 1”.
What kind of cooperation and deals might result from the visit of the French Minister of Armies to the three Gulf countries?
2023-09-08 03:00:56
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