French Foreign Minister Michel Jobert leaves for Saudi Arabia today on the first leg of a trip to several Middle East countries to talk oil and economic cooperation. In Saudi Arabia, Jobert will probably put his signature to the recently concluded Franco-Saudi Arabian oil agreement providing for the delivery of 30 million tons of Saudi crude oil to France over a three-year period, according to observers here.
France in return will furnish the Saudis with industrial plants, technical assistance and weapons. Whether these weapons will include Mirage fighter-bombers has never been officially confirmed. Last Oct. France sold Saudi Arabia 38 Mirage-III-E planes, the most highly perfected versions of the long-range low-altitude intercepters.
The 5-6-day trip will take Jobert also to Kuwait which along with Saudi Arabia are countries traditionally oriented towards Anglo-Saxon powers, as well as to Syria. Jobert has stated that his mission to these countries is to develop long-term economic ties between Europe and the Arab and African worlds, and not to arrange “arms-for-oil exchange agreements.”
Jobert is reportedly hoping to increase France’s participation in the economic development of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait whose revenues have jumped as a result of the rise in oil prices: With Kuwait, France is currently negotiating an oil agreement similar to the Franco-Saudi Arabian accord, but the exact terms have not yet been disclosed. In Syria, where Jobert is due to arrive next Monday, he will reportedly seek to strengthen the close and long-standing Franco-Syrian ties. Syria apparently is hoping to obtain French financial aid for a large-scale irrigation project.
Observers here say that France’s growing economic role in the Arab world is not only a result of her own thrust in this direction of the world. They say the Arab nations are turning to France in an attempt to diversify their sources of armaments which currently come mainly from the Soviet Union and the United States. This diversification would lessen the risk and effect of a unilateral arms embargo which might be imposed by one of their arms suppliers, these sources say.
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