French president begins official visit to Qatar Saturday

French President Francois Hollande begins on Saturday an important, "official" visit to Qatar, where he will discuss ways of boosting "the strategic relationship" with the Gulf country. Hollande will spend two days in Qatar and meet with all senior officials, including the Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Deputy Amir and Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and other senior members of the Qatari Administration. Hollande is at the head of a large delegation of government and business representatives and will stress the potential for further developing investment ties on both sides. The French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will join the "official visit" directly in Doha, where he is separately attending a meeting of the Core Group of the Friends of Syria on Saturday morning to discuss ways to support the Syrian opposition forces. Apart from Fabius, Interior Minister Manuel Valls, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Trade Minister Nicole Bricq and Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier will also form part of the government delegation. On the business side, many CEO's from French companies working in or with Qatar will be present, including those from oil company "Total", engineering and transport company "Alsthom", infrastructure and construction company "Vinci", environment and energy group "Veolia". European aircraft maker Airbus, which is carrying out large contracts for Qatar, is also expected to be part of the delegation, as is Dassault Aviation, the maker of the "Rafale" fighter, which France is seeking to sell to several customers, some of them in the Gulf. Officials here said that "there is an interest for the Rafale" in Qatar, "but there is also competition from others." Commenting Hollande's trip Saturday and Sunday, the officials said that Qatar was still evaluating several aircraft but there should be some evolution within a few months. It was remarked that there are "historical" and "traditional" relations between France and Qatar for supplying weapons. Qatar currently has an outdated fleet of French-made Mirage fighters in its air force. But with a price tag of over Euros 50 million (USD 65-70 million) the Rafale will not be easy to sell, although industry sources said France was giving up to a 25 percent discount on the plane, largely because it has so far no foreign customers. Negotiations are turbulent with India which has a tentative agreement to acquire 126 Rafale planes but wants most of them built in India under technology transfer. Qatar is believed to want between two or three squadrons of fighters, 24 to 36 planes, and the Eurofighter and other suppliers are vying for that contract. Outside of defence purchases, France is hoping to build on its existing investment ties in Qatar, mainly through major companies like Total, which has over USD 6 billion invested in the Gulf State. France is also working on the Doha Metro and Tramway contracts but is still behind several European countries in terms of trade relations. Officials here pointed out that France is Qatar's fourth largest European trading partner, behind Britain, Germany and Italy, prompting Elysee officials into saying: "We can do more. We can do better." On Qatari interests in France, these investments now stand at over USD 10 billion, official sources said in answer to KUNA questions. Hollande will be encouraging an increase in investment, just like for any other foreign investor. In particular, the French are interested in investments that do not just concern real estate of companies, but also concern projects that could be co-financed by Paris and Doha and which would be selected together. These types of projects would address the Small-Medium Business or Enterprise sector, which is crucial to revitalising the stagnant French economy and also to creating jobs amid rising unemployment. On political issues, Hollande's team said that there were broad convergences of views on many subjects, especially on the need for Bashar Al-Assad to leave power and to have "a political transition as quickly as possible" in Syria. "The dialogue between Qatar and France is continuing," advisors to Hollande said. Upon leaving Doha on Sunday, the French leader will make a whistle-stop visit to Amman to hold talks with King Abdallah II for what is being described as a short "working visit" of less than four hours. Relations between Hollande and the Jordanian King were described as "close and confident" and France has been at the forefront of efforts to support Jordan during the Syrian crisis whereby almost 500,000 refugees have fled to Jordan.