Addressing guests that included Muhammad A. Tayeb, regional director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, other government officials, members of the diplomatic corp. and business executives, Nakhle said it was a great honor for him to host the celebrations in Jeddah for the second year.
He said since last year the friendship between his country and the Kingdom has further strengthened by the high-level visits from France.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy visited Riyadh in November 2009. Then last month Hervé Morin, the minister of defense, visited Saudi Arabia. He also mentioned his accompanying Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal on his visit to Paris.
Nakhle, who spoke simultaneously in French and Arabic, said responding to the requests of “our Saudi friends, we have improved visa procedures. Since February 2010, we have opened a separate section to receive applications and it is operating smoothly.”
Tayeb responded to Nakhle’s comments by highlighting the age-old relationship between the two countries. He also spoke in Arabic as well as French.
Tayeb referred to Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal’s ongoing visit to Paris where on Tuesday he, along with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner, inaugurated an exhibition at the Louvre Museum in Paris of pre-Islamic and Islamic treasures from the Kingdom.
The landmark exhibition, organized jointly by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities and Louvre has further brought the two countries closer.
It also shows that the relations that the two friendly countries maintain go beyond the political and commercial sphere.
