Algeria: Doctors tell Saudi crown prince don’t go to summit with Macron
Algeria: Doctors tell Saudi crown prince don’t go to summit with Macron
November 29, 2018
France and Saudi Arabia will hold their first bilateral ministers’ meeting as crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) attends the NATO summit in Europe, French health minister Olivier Véran said on Tuesday after a medical conference on the Gulf state’s relations with France.
He said in a statement that while France and the Arab and Muslim world are experiencing unprecedented security threats, it was important to protect the health of people visiting France, which has been struck by several terror attacks in recent months.
“Health is also a fundamental pillar of our partnership,” Mr Véran said, adding that the trip to the summit would allow the Algerian premier, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, to talk about security issues, and he will talk about cooperation on peace and security in Africa and the Middle East.
He said the Algerians would give their opinion on the latest security threats.
The statement said the first ministerial meeting with MBS would be held on Friday, adding that the minister responsible for foreign affairs would also attend, after speaking with President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
Mr Véran also said that MBS had not yet met European leaders, but officials had already taken the decision to hold a bilateral meeting in the first few days of the NATO summit.
No, no, not the meeting… the summit
In November last year, the French government announced that President Emmanuel Macron would take MBS, then the most powerful man in Saudi Arabia, to the summit in Warsaw to help his country’s relations with the bloc.
Mr Macron has met MBS twice previously, both times during his meeting with US President Donald Trump last May. In a tweet in May, Mr Macron urged the president to meet MBS, who attended a military parade in front of hundreds
