His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, on Friday attended a working dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and held a tête-à-tête with the president at the Élysée Palace, Paris.
His Majesty was welcomed on arrival at the palace by Military Commander of the Presidency of the Republic Colonel Guillaume Chantereau. His Majesty then proceeded past a static guard of honour before being greeted by the French president.
During the working dinner and tête-à-tête, His Majesty and the president discussed matters of mutual interest to further strengthen bilateral cooperation between the Sultanate and France, including in fields of energy, defence, security, climate change, economy and trade, as well as efforts to enhance the ASEAN-France Development Partnership.
His Majesty on Friday morning began the official visit to France with a visit to Matra, BAE Dynamics and Alena (MBDA) Missile Systems; and held a meeting with Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné.
Accompanying His Majesty to the visit and meetings was His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen.
His Majesty first made a visit to MBDA in Le Plessis-Robinson, Paris, where His Majesty was greeted by Chief Executive Officer of MBDA Eric Beranger as well as senior management of the company.
At MBDA, His Majesty viewed a video demonstration on the air defence systems and was briefed on the products and services of MBDA by the chief executive officer.
His Majesty then viewed a Kit Mistral virtual reality simulator demonstration before proceeding to a launch area to view a static exhibition. MBDA is the only European group capable of designing and producing missiles and missile systems to meet the whole range of current and future needs of the three branches of the armed forces (air, sea and land), and the only integrated defence company to provide missiles and missile systems for each branch.
In the afternoon, His Majesty met with TotalEnergies’ Patrick Pouyanné to discuss issues of mutual interest such as energy and trade at Plaza Athénée Hotel in Paris.
