France's decades-long ties with Gulf states built on 'economic development, oil, defence agreements'

And as his government grapples with the aftermath of unrest back in France, the president, Emmanuel Macron, is in the Middle East on a three-day tour of Gulf states. After a quick visit to Kuwait, Macron arrived in Abu Dhabi Monday, where he met a UAE president, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He's visiting Bahrain today before rounding that trip off in Qatar. Now, in the UAE, Macron secured an additional 200,000 tons of diesel per month. The French president continuing that tour of the Gulf to try and secure energy supplies to bring down prices here in France. We're going to talk about Macron's trip now with François Gruet, who joins me on the set. You're the former French ambassador to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Thank you so much for coming on France 24. Thank you for inviting me. Macron's trip to France has been hit with some of the worst protest violence in years just before his departure. Was he right to go on this trip? I won't comment on this specific point. it is his responsibility to also to go to visit our partners which may help to reduce the hardship that our people are living since the latest events in the Gulf so as you rightly said during the presentation of this visit we announced today that there was an agreement to secure more supplies of diesel and which we consider may contribute to alleviate the hardships lived by our country's citizens. Indeed, that represents about 10% of France's consumption. Do you think that President Macron should have asked for more? I really don't go into those details. There is not only an economic dimension in this visit. There is also, of course, a geopolitical dimension, political dimension. Security, defense are also at the core of the talks because we, of course, are in a very sensitive moment due to the war with Iran and the blockade of the Hormuz Strait. So France has been always keen on strengthening its relations with all our partners in the Gulf. We have a defense agreement. We have a strong security cooperation with those countries. In this very moment, France has to play its role as a key partner of those countries. Well, let's pick some of that apart. The U.S. war on Iran is continuing. Macron is holding these talks with Gulf leaders, including UAE's President, Qatar's Emir, on ways to secure maritime shipments, find alternative bypass routes for energy exports. What do you think concretely will come out of that? Well, France has been among the first to call for a solution to this issue created by the closure of the Strait by Iran. And the president had announced some months ago an initiative with the Brits to help, to facilitate the navigation in the strait with some maritime, how should I say, naval capacities from France, from the Brits, from other partners in Europe. provided that the security conditions are met, which is not exactly the case today. But I think discussions are still going on when time comes to have this initiative being implemented. The French president is also holding defense talks, talks on defense cooperation. The Gulf countries, of course, have been targeted by thousands of Iranian missiles and drones. Is there a risk for France to get more involved with the Gulf countries from a defense standpoint? Well, let's mention first that France has never been consulted for this war. We are not part to it. And the initiative, apart from this initiative on the threat of drones that I already mentioned, there was this latest decision to send some equipments and take some measures on the ground in Saudi Arabia had to strengthen the defense of the Saudi territory against the missiles sent by the Houthis. So France has no intention to get involved in the war. And I repeat, we are not consulted for that, and we are not part of it. Some of these countries have come under criticism for human rights abuses. Do you think that that is something that the president would address on this kind of trip? I think this issue has always been discussed with our partners. But now the emergency is to secure the – there are two dimensions in this visit by the president. First, addressing the needs of our country's citizens in France to cope with the situation created by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in terms of prices for diesel and other products. I think what has been announced is a first step towards this direction. And the second dimension is the political and security dimension. And I think that France has showed its commitment towards its allies. We, during the, you mentioned the crisis with Iran and the fact that Iran has sent a lot of missiles towards UAE, especially UAE has received more missiles from Iran than Israel itself. So France had always been sided with our allies. We sent some, we have an air basis, a military basis in Abu Dhabi, and our planes have taken part in the actions to counter the strikes by the Iranian missiles. And now we have recently decided to send a team of people and equipment to strengthen the capacity of Saudi Arabia, which has been a victim of strikes. We see what happened at the airport of Riyadh, which was shut. And I listened today that there was always still this morning an attempt to send a drone. So we are siding with our allies. Historically, what has France's relationship been like with the Gulf countries? How has it evolved over time, even from your time as a former ambassador to today? Well, we have, you know, our relation with the, you have different countries, the Gulf, of course. For the two main countries in terms of economic strategy was Saudi Arabia and the UAE. So with the UAE, I was there 30 years ago, 20 years ago. It was a decision by the founder of the federation, Sheikh Zayed, who was a very wise man, very respected man, to have with France, it was at the time of General de Gaulle and Pompidou, to establish a very close cooperation with France in terms of economic development, oil and gas, defense agreements and so on. With the Saudi Arabia, it goes back further, back to the 30s when France opened its first representation in Jeddah in 26, even before the creation of the... So it's a long, long, long story. But we have all the French presidents from De Gaulle to Macron going through Pompidou, Giscard d'Estaing, Mitterrand and, of course, Hollande, Macron and Sarkozy. have always been keen on having this very close consultation with the Saudis because Saudi Arabia is a key country in this region. And so we show to our allies that we are ready to answer to their requests in terms of, I mean, first of all, their defense. François, thank you so much. François Gruyette, you're a former French ambassador to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Thank you so much.