Saudi Arabia may buy Spanish warships
Spanish firms have won two infrastructure contracts in Saudi Arabia in recent years
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman held talks with Spain’s King Felipe VI yesterday during an official visit to the country which coincides with negotiations to buy Spanish warships.
King Felipe met with Prince Mohammad, who serves as defence minister and also controls economic policy for the world’s top oil exporter, at the Zarzuela Palace on the outskirts of Madrid, before hosting a lunch there in his honour. He was expected to sign five memorandums of understanding in the areas of culture, science, employment, air transport and defence in his with meeting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy later yesterday.
Prince Mohammad arrived in Spain late on Wednesday hot on the heels of a three-day official visit to France and after a tour lasting several weeks of Egypt, US and Britain that saw the self-styled moderniser sign multimillion-dollar deals.
Madrid is the last stop of his global diplomatic charm offensive in a bid to project a new liberal image of his country.
Daily newspaper El Pais reported earlier this week that Spain would likely make progress during his visit on a deal to sell five corvette warships to Saudi Arabia for around ₧2 billion (Dh9.17 billion).
“The signing of this MoU (on defence) can be a step in that direction,” a Spanish government source told AFP.
Spanish firms have already won two major infrastructure contracts in Saudi Arabia in recent years. A Spanish consortium, Al Shoula, is building a high-speed railway across the desert to link cities of Makkah and Madinah while Spanish construction group FCC leads one of three consortia building a rapid transit system in Riyadh.