France 24 | March 7, 2018<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Theresa May defended Britain\u2019s links to security ally Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Queen Elizabeth for lunch on a high-profile visit that drew protests over Riyadh\u2019s human rights record.
\nA fiery exchange in parliament between May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn underlined tension in Britain over Prince Mohammed\u2019s trip, which was aimed at building a broader economic partnership between the two countries, but has sparked anger about alleged human rights abuses and the war in Yemen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe link that we have with Saudi Arabia is historic, it is an important one, and it has saved the lives of potentially hundreds of people in this country,\u201d May said, pausing her answer briefly as opposition lawmakers cried \u201cShame!\u201d. She was alluding to intelligence-sharing on Islamist militant suspects.<\/p>\n
The debate took place as Prince Mohammed lunched with\u00a0the British monarch<\/a>\u00a0on the first leg of a trip packed with displays of diplomatic affection designed to help widen long-standing defence ties into a more far-reaching partnership.<\/p>\n May later met Prince Mohammed at her Downing Street office, extending a warm diplomatic welcome to the conservative kingdom\u2019s heir apparent and agreeing a 65 billion pound ($90.29 billion) trade and investment target.<\/p>\n Britain is looking for trading partners as it exits the\u00a0European Union<\/a>, and energy powerhouse Saudi Arabia needs to convince sceptical investors about its domestic reforms.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a significant boost for UK prosperity and a clear demonstration of the strong international confidence in our economy as we prepare to leave the European Union,\u201d a spokeswoman from May\u2019s office said after the meeting.<\/p>\n But demonstrators gathered outside May\u2019s office amid a heavy police presence to protest at both countries\u2019 role in Yemen, where war has killed around 10,000 people. A Saudi-led coalition intervened militarily in Yemen in 2015 and critics say Riyadh has been using British-supplied weapons in devastating strikes.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe that someone like Mohammed bin Salman should be welcomed in Britain,\u201d said Hassan Yassine, a 25-year-old customer service worker from London. \u201cIt is definitely not ethical, bearing in mind what is going on in Yemen every single day, every single second, even as we speak.\u201d<\/p>\n Corbyn said British military advisers were \u201cdirecting the war\u201d in Yemen. May\u2019s spokesman said British personnel had no role in carrying out coalition air strikes, and were not involved in Saudi targeting decisions.<\/p>\n Strategic partnership<\/strong><\/p>\n Police said a man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after an egg was thrown at a police vehicle as bin Salman\u2019s motorcade arrived in Downing Street.<\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s first official engagement was a trip to Buckingham Palace to see Queen Elizabeth – a rare honour usually reserved for heads of state.<\/p>\n The Saudi delegation then met May at her offices to launch a UK-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council.<\/p>\n The meeting set out the mutual trade and investment target, which would include direct investment in Britain and new Saudi public procurement with British companies. This would be spread across sectors including finance, education, healthcare, renewable energy and defence, May\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n Britain is vying to land the stock market listing of state oil firm Saudi Aramco, but no decision is expected this week.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would like the Aramco share option to be issued in the United Kingdom and we will continue to suggest the City would be the best place for it,\u201d junior foreign office minister Alistair Burt told parliament.<\/p>\n Later this month Prince Mohammed visits the\u00a0United States<\/a>, which also wants the lucrative listing, although sources said both countries might miss out.<\/p>\n British officials were privately delighted at the decision by Prince Mohammed, 32, to choose Britain as the major Western destination on his first foreign trip since becoming heir to the Saudi throne last year.<\/p>\n The British government is keen to develop a two-way trade and investment relationship, eyeing both an expanded market in Saudi Arabia for service sector exports, and attracting Saudi cash to finance domestic projects.<\/p>\n For his part, Saudi Arabia\u2019s ambitious heir wants to show that \u201cshock\u201d reforms have made his country a better place to invest and a more tolerant society.<\/p>\n Photographs posted online showed London taxis displaying advertising graphics welcoming Prince Mohammed, and electronic billboards around the capital promoted pro-Saudi messages with the hashtag #anewsaudiarabia.<\/p>\n Business deals are possible with British defence group BAE Systems and European weapons maker MBDA, and initial agreements could be concluded on gas exploration, petrochemicals and other industries, according to British and Saudi sources.<\/p>\n Royal treatment<\/strong><\/p>\n The three-day visit will include a second Royal audience – dinner with Prince Charles and Prince William on Wednesday – and a prestigious visit to May\u2019s country residence on Thursday.<\/p>\n The prime minister intends to use the private dinner at Chequers, a 16th-century manor house 40 miles (60 km) northwest of London, to further press her concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, her spokesman said.<\/p>\n The Saudi-led coalition is fighting the Iran-allied Houthi movement in Yemen in a campaign to restore its internationally recognised government, generating what the United Nations said in January is the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n Demonstrators are protesting against Britain for licensing 4.6 billion pounds of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia since 2015.<\/p>\n May said all arms sales were strictly regulated, that Saudi Arabia\u2019s involvement in the conflict was backed by the U.N. Security Council and her government supported it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe prime minister and crown prince agreed on the importance of full and unfettered humanitarian and commercial access, including through the ports, and that a political solution was ultimately the only way to end the conflict and humanitarian suffering in Yemen,\u201c the statement from May\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" France 24 | March 7, 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May defended Britain\u2019s links to security ally Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Queen Elizabeth for lunch on a high-profile visit that drew protests over Riyadh\u2019s human rights record. A fiery exchange in parliament between May and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn underlined tension in Britain over… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1469,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions\/1469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}