Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy and the French Minister of Foreign Affairs have discussed prospects of cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy and future opportunities in various energy fields, including renewable energy, clean hydrogen, and electricity interconnection.

Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, Minister of Energy, met with Her Excellency Catherine Colonna, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, met at Riyadh and also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a framework for collaboration in the energy sector.

The meeting was attended by many Saudi officials as well as many French officials including, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of State, Cabinet Member and National Security Advisor Dr. Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban, and Saudi Ambassador to the Republic of France Mr. Fahd al-Ruwaili. French Ambassador to the Kingdom Mr. Ludovic Pouille and other French officials also attended the meeting.

It encourages cooperation between the two countries in the fields of electricity, renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, smart grids, oil and gas and their derivatives, refining, petrochemicals, and the distribution and marketing sectors.

This will further facilitate the collaboration in the field of technologies, with an aim to mitigate the effects of climate change, such as carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) in hard-to-abate sectors, and the production of hydrogen, as well as other technological innovations.

The MoU also promotes cooperation in digital transformation, localization of materials, products and services in the energy supply chain, a collaboration between companies in the energy sector, joint research in universities, research centers and other forums, as well as building human capacity through training and exchanging of experience in the energy sector.