LONDON — On the last day of a visit by the Saudi crown prince, Britain approved the sale of 48 highly advanced fighter jets to Saudi Arabia on Friday, brushing aside calls for an embargo over the kingdom’s role in Yemen’s civil war.

Human rights and arms control groups have mounted a publicity campaign and protests to stop the sale of British arms to Saudi Arabia, alleging that they are used in Yemen to kill innocent civilians. This week, the group Save the Children placed a statue of a child in a bombed-out building, looking fearfully up at the sky outside Parliament to protest the war.

But during the three-day visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the British government made clear that its agenda was to promote commerce and good relations, not to criticize the Saudi government. On Thursday, Prime Minister Theresa May and the crown prince reached an agreement designed to generate $90 million in trade and investment between the two countries.