Aimed at further boosting ties with the region, it was led by Philippe Marini, who for the past four years has headed the Franco-Saudi Arabian and Gulf Friendship Group in the French upper house.
Also in the delegation were two other members of the friendship group — Monique Papon, vice president of the senate and mayor of Nantes, and Jean Fourcade, who served as France’s economy minister under President Valery Giscard d’Estaing and is a deputy president of the ruling UMP party in the senate. The friendship group has 34 senators from all parties, although on this occasion only the UMP was represented.
While in Jeddah, the team met with Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, who explained current Saudi views about the Middle East and North Africa region, as well as with Trade Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza.
They also met with the president of the Islamic Development Bank, Ahmed Mohammed Ali, and discussed the situation in a number of French-speaking sub-Saharan states in Africa as well as European aid to Palestine, especially to Gaza.
The visit is partly about fact-finding and familiarization. Marini visits the Kingdom at least once a year but for Papon, who heads the friendship group’s Qatar section, this was just her second visit. It was Fourcade’s first.
Both said they were struck by the goodwill toward France expressed by all the Saudis they met.
What struck Papon the most since her last visit three years ago was the change in the position of women. She said she saw Saudi Arabia as an evolving society.
Women, she said, are much more confident and open about showing what they can do compared to her last visit. “At supermarkets there are now women cashiers,” she noted as an example of change. “That did not happen before.”
However, Marini said that he feels Saudi Arabia is still something of an unknown quantity for many people in France. Its role in the region and its importance is underestimated, he explained, adding that far more is known about other Gulf states. Changing that and ensuring a better-informed focus on Saudi Arabia is one of his aims, he said.
It was largely at his initiative that Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal was invited to address the French Senate in March. It was the first time a member of the Saudi royal family had been an official guest of the French Parliament.
It was “a very positive” visit, Marini says. The prince’s speech in the colloquium on aspects of Saudi society at the senate during the visit, in particular on developments in Makkah and the importance of interfaith dialogue and respect, was much appreciated, he added.
The prince was accompanied by his sister Princess Lulwa and, according to Marini, she particularly impressed her audience when she spoke in French about women's education in the Kingdom and the educational reforms being undertaken by the government.
Marini, who had visited the Shoura Council previously, disclosed that there was every likelihood that its chairman, Abdullah Al-Asheikh, will visit the French Senate. But this will take time to organize, he said. Equally, there are hopes to further develop Franco-Saudi inter-parliamentary relations in a variety of ways.
In May, the senate hosted a delegation from the Franco-Saudi Business Circle. Other Gulf states visited by the group include Kuwait, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.
