Spain’s Navantia beats France’s Naval in Saudi Arabia
Unlike France, the relations that Spain has managed to maintain with Saudi Arabia are very close. The article by Giuseppe Gagliano
Spain and France are competing for Saudi Arabian investments in the naval military sector.
On November 30, Paris moved through the ministers of foreign affairs and, in particular, through the secretary general, the director for Africa and the Middle East and the director for globalization in Riyadh. The purpose of this visit was to forge a strategic Franco-Saudi partnership.
At the same time, the Spanish trade minister also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi defense minister for the supply of battleships manufactured by the Spanish shipbuilding company Navantia to the Royal Saudi Navy. This memorandum of understanding eliminated the French groupNaval Group by displacing the French political and industrial leaders.
But how did something like this happen?
Unlike France, the relations that Spain has managed to maintain with Saudi Arabia are very close: Gonzalo Alcazar who has been in charge of the Spanish group's operations since 2017 has played a fundamental role since 2021 in Ryad. Indeed, he managed to sign two deals worth 1.5 billion euros with the Saudis in 2007. He also managed to negotiate with the Saudis for contracts worth 4 billion.
The disadvantage on the French side was the lack of a local partner that would have allowed them to beat the Spanish group. The key character who allowed the Spanish group to beat the French one was certainly Sofia Honrubia.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/la-spagnola-navantia-batte-la-francese-naval-in-arabia-saudita/ on Thu, 15 Dec 2022 06:28:59 +0000.