RIYADH: Britain and Saudi Arabia signed commercial deals worth more than $2 billion (1.44 billion pounds) during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to London which ended on Friday, a joint statement said, without providing details.
At the start of the trip, the countries set themselves a 65 billion pound ($90 billion) trade and investment target for the coming years, with London looking for new post-Brexit markets for its services sector, and Prince Mohammed seeking to convince wary investors his country is a tolerant and modernising place.
Under the deal, Saudi will buy 48 of the UK’s Typhoon fighter jets, reports the Independent.
If finalised, the deal struck on the final day of the visit from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman would be a major boost for BAE Systems – which employs some 35,000 people in Britain.
But with the Saudi regime embroiled in a bloody bombing campaign in Yemen, which has killed large numbers of civilians and precipitated a humanitarian crisis, the deal will anger anti-war campaigners.
Vision 2030 is the country-wide reform programme that Prince Salman has been credited with pushing through, which has also seen his supporters hailing him as a social reformer who has, for example, empowered women to a degree not before seen in the kingdom.
But activists point to the country’s bombing of Yemen as a sign that Saudi is not a country the UK should be dealing with.
The new deal will see Saudi forces able to deploy the fighters – seen as the most advanced swing-role combat aircraft currently available – which have a top speech of more than 1,500mph and carry a formidable array of weapons for both ground and air combat.
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