{"id":68603,"date":"2026-08-23T07:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T07:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/68603\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T07:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T07:55:09","slug":"saudi-crown-prince-heads-to-france-as-paris-seeks-closer-gulf-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/68603\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi crown prince heads to France as Paris seeks closer Gulf ties"},"content":{"rendered":"

The crown prince’s visit to Paris comes as Western and Middle Eastern leaders try to resolve the US-Israeli war with Iran, and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict both in Gaza<\/a> and the occupied territories.<\/p>\n

“The two leaders will discuss the main topics of regional importance, within a framework of close collaboration between France and her partners in the Gulf with a view to backing stability and peace in the Middle East<\/a>,” Macron’s office said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Macron and the Saudi leader, known as MBS,\u00a0last met in April<\/a>\u00a0in Islamabad during negotiations between Tehran and Washington to end the US-Israeli war in Iran<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two men agreed to stay in “close contact” and confirmed their commitment to supporting\u00a0de-escalation efforts<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia<\/a> has publicly championed the Palestinian cause, spearheading the 2024 Global\u00a0Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution.<\/p>\n

But it has also taken a pragmatic stance focusing on regional stability and regime security, with a reform programme aimed at diversifying its oil-based economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Military, economic cooperation<\/p>\n

MBS’s visit follows Macron’s official visit to Riyadh<\/a> in December 2024, when the two countries formally established a Franco-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council.<\/p>\n

The two leaders aim to strengthen bilateral ties and will hold the council’s first meeting while MBS is in Paris this week.<\/p>\n

The Elys\u00e9e Palace noted it would be the occasion to address the “major\u00a0economic and strategic issues” underpinning the partnership.<\/p>\n

Paris and Riyadh are linked in particular by military and economic cooperation agreements, including in the energy and aerospace sectors.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia is the world’s second-largest importer of arms and the region’s largest spender on defence. In 2024, it signed an agreement with French manufacturer Airbus for for up to 120 helicopters.<\/p>\n

France, Saudi Arabia sign strategic partnership, call for fresh elections in Lebanon<\/a><\/p>\n

Sports ambitions<\/p>\n

MBS’s visit begins on Sunday with the closing ceremony of the\u00a0Esports World Cup<\/a>,\u00a0an annual world-class video game competition hosted this year in Paris \u2013 the first time it has taken place outside Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The hosting of the global championship shows “France’s renewed appeal as a destination for major international sporting events, following in particular the success of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games”, Macron’s office said.<\/p>\n

It also reflects the shared ambition of France and Saudi Arabia to make sport and culture drivers of closer ties between the two countries, it added.<\/p>\n

\"Teams<\/p>\n

Teams play video game Valorant during the 2026 Esports World Cup at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, on 11 July 2026.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia drops France’s EDF from desert megacity project<\/a><\/p>\n

Khashoggi investigation<\/p>\n

The visit also comes as the French judiciary is investigating<\/a>\u00a0the 2018 killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.<\/p>\n

Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote critically about the oil-rich kingdom in\u00a0The Washington Post, was strangled and then dismembered inside the Saudi consulate on 2 October 2018.<\/p>\n

In a 2021 report, US intelligence concluded the crown prince was\u00a0directly responsible<\/a>\u00a0for approving the killing.<\/p>\n

On Friday, media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Macron to “champion press freedom” when he meets MBS.<\/p>\n

In a social media post<\/a>, it said that “18 media professionals\u00a0currently imprisoned in the Kingdom must be released as soon as possible”.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The crown prince’s visit to Paris comes as Western and Middle Eastern leaders try to resolve the US-Israeli…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5,42270,561,42269,38868,42271,30,42272,422],"class_list":["post-68603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-paris","tag-france","tag-franco-saudi-strategic-partnership-council","tag-macron","tag-mbs","tag-middle-eastern","tag-official-visit","tag-paris","tag-regional-stability","tag-saudi-arabia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}