ALKHOBAR -- This week friends and colleagues of Francis Bouquin met for a dinner hosted in his honor by Khaled A. Abdulkarim at Sunset Beach. They bid a sad adieu to the French Trade Office's commercial counselor. The event marked a change in arrangements for trade promotion by the Republic of France in Saudi Arabia. No longer will the French government sponsor a commercial office in the Eastern Province. Instead, for budgetary and security reasons, the functions of Alkhobar's French Trade Office have been transferred to the Commercial Section of the Embassy of France in Riyadh.
According to Bouquin, there are only about 500 French nationals in the Eastern Province and of that number only about 30 are French businessmen. Additionally, since the start of the unrest in the Kingdom last year, it has become much more difficult to convince small- and medium-sized French companies to seriously consider doing business in Saudi Arabia.
"France lacks the strong history of doing business in Saudi Arabia that some other nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States enjoy," Bouquin said. "Let me emphasize that in the Eastern Province there are major enterprises with strong ties to France including Alcatel, Technip, Atos Origin, Banque Saudi Fransi and others who are doing quite well in the Kingdom. However, it is in the Eastern Province in the area of the small- and medium-sized French companies, that we lack a substantial presence compared to some other nations."
Bouquin explained that there is an unfortunate perception in France that French firms, especially those in the oil and gas sector, are not welcome in the Kingdom. While he has tried to explain to French companies that policies in the Kingdom have changed over the last decade or so, he still has been unable to overcome the skepticism of many small businessmen who are unfamiliar with the Middle East. Even worse, once the international media began emphasizing negative coverage of the Kingdom's security situation, it became quite a challenge to find new small- and medium-sized French companies who were willing to consider investment in Saudi Arabia.
"I wish I could say that small- and medium-sized French companies are very willing to bring capital and human resources to the Kingdom but right now they have many questions," said Bouquin. "Through the French Trade Office we have done our best to convince French businesses that there are good, profitable opportunities in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia but the response has not been all we had hoped. Effective next week, Christian Bodin, the commercial counselor at the French Embassy in Riyadh will be looking after French business interests in the Eastern Province. My assistant here, Saleh Mohammed Saleh, will be transferring to Riyadh to work with Bodin and so a certain amount of continuity will be maintained."
Bouquin added that representatives from the French Embassy would be traveling regularly to the Eastern Province to maintain the commercial ties established there. Even with the closure of the French Trade Office, Bouquin remarked that his overall impression is that the amount of business being done between France and Saudi Arabia is actually increasing. For the 12 months ending December 2003 France had exports of 1,443 million euros to Saudi Arabia and imports of 2,118 million euros from Saudi Arabia.
"While those numbers were actually down on 2002, we believe that the trend has been reversed," Bouquin said. "It just being mid-year it is a little difficult to predict how the full-year French-Saudi trade figures will tally but as of now they are on the upswing."
Bouquin and his family leave to the Netherlands next week, where he will be taking up the post of deputy commercial counselor to the French Economic Mission at The Hague. Both his wife Nathalie and daughter Alice are sorry to be leaving the Kingdom and so many good friends behind.
"My daughter has been very happy at school here," said Bouquin, "and we have all had a wonderful time discovering the natural beauty of Saudi Arabia. I will never forget the beautiful and extreme conditions of the Saudi deserts. I will also never forget the kind, wonderful people we have met during our stay in the Kingdom. Overall it is still quite safe here. Before I leave I would like to appeal once more to French businessmen to consider the many good commercial opportunities available in Saudi Arabia. If French companies do not take advantage of these opportunities, I can assure you that others certainly will."
Molouk Y. Ba-Isa
© Arab News 2004
