At the start of his visit to France today, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Minister of the National Guard, met French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Odrian at the headquarters of the French defense ministry in the capital Paris. The two Saudi and French sides held a meeting co-chaired by Prince Miteb bin Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and the French defense minister. The meeting addressed the bilateral relations between the Kingdom and France and ways to boost them in various fields and issues of mutual concern and developments at the regional and international arenas. At the beginning of the meeting, the French Minister of Defense welcomed the Minister of the National Guard, stressing that exchange of visits deepens the foundations of the relationship between the two countries and opens up many areas of cooperation. He said that the visit of Prince Miteb bin Abdullah to France comes as an extension of previous visits he made to the kingdom during which he met Saudi officials in the context of efforts by both sides to strengthen the existing partnership between the kingdom and France as these meetings discuss many topics, particularly in the areas of security, military, training and qualification areas. For his part, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz highlighted the strength of the relations between the kingdom and France, expressing his thanks to the French government for inviting him and holding the meeting which dealt with ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in general, and between the Ministry of National Guard and the French Ministry of Defense in particular. He pointed out that his meeting with French Defense Minister confirms the keenness of the two countries to strengthen their relations and desire for continued communication moving towards joint cooperation, development and consolidation of bilateral relations between the two countries and their peoples in various fields. The meeting was attended by a number of Saudi and French officials. In a statement to reporters at the end of the meeting, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Odrian thanked Prince Miteb bin Abdullah for accepting the invitation and meeting with French officials, stressing that the meeting was positive and discussed many topics on which views between the two sides were identical. He added that this visit boosts communication between Riyadh and Paris. For his part, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah expressed his pleasure for the meeting, pointing out that during the meeting, they discussed a lot of aspects of cooperation between the Ministry of National Guard and the French Ministry of Defense, particularly in the aspects of armament and military training and benefiting from the French expertise in this aspect. In a statement to reporters, the Minister of National Guard hoped for continuing communication between the kingdom and France at all levels to serve the common interests and achieve the aspirations aspired by Saudi and French leaders.
