French defense minister to visit Saudi October 6-8

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is to pay a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia on October 6-8. The meeting is to discuss bilateral relations, defense cooperation and the regional situation in the Middle East and the Gulf, a Defense Ministry source said Monday. Le Drian has been a frequent visitor these past months to the region and has visited several countries in the Gulf, including both the UAE and Qatar, which are major clients of France for military hardware. France also has a military base in the UAE, with about 500 personnel to cater to naval, ground and air resources. Le Drian has been marketing France's high-tech Rafale fighter-bomber to several countries, including the UAE, Qatar and India, where an "exclusive" negotiating contract has been signed but no final purchase agreed. The French Minister may also broach the Rafale issue with the Saudi authorities. Defense cooperation in a number of areas will be on the agenda for the talks next week and Le Drian and his Saudi hosts are also set to discuss the evolution of the situation in Syria, Gulf Security, Iran, Iraq and the Middle East peace process. France has said for many years that it is available to supply military hardware to the Saudi armed forces, but also there have been perennial discussions about a border high-tech security contract for Saudi Arabia that has not yet been agreed.