“22,000 jobs created. Unseen since Disneyland Paris. A new global destination”, the president of the Republic wrote on X, thanking Saudi Arabia and Qiddiya<\/a>, one of the many subsidiaries of the country’s Public Investment Fund, “for their confidence in our country, in our talents and in our future”. <\/p>\n This project “was born out of a discussion between the president of the Republic and the crown prince in December 2024” in Riyadh, where they discovered their “shared passion” for manga, “and more specifically Dragon Ball Z”, an adviser to Emmanuel Macron told the press. <\/p>\n The first of the three parks is expected to be dedicated to this iconic Japanese franchise, although this has not been officially confirmed. The themes of the other two parks have not yet been revealed. <\/p>\n The parks will be built and opened in stages. Construction is expected to take several years, the president’s office said, without specifying an opening date. <\/p>\n Asked about entrusting such a project to Riyadh despite criticism of its human rights record, the president’s office sidestepped the issue. “At no point, when we attract a project, do we seek to lecture others”, it replied. <\/p>\n The presidency said that two other contracts had been signed with French companies during the Saudi prince’s visit. One with shipping company CMA CGM, to help develop the port of Jeddah on the Red Sea, worth 434 million dollars. The other with rail transport group Alstom, to supply metro trains for Riyadh’s metro, worth 580 million dollars. <\/p>\n A heavily criticised visit <\/p>\n The trip is one of the crown prince’s rare visits abroad; Paris notes that he seldom leaves his country, except for international summits. It was his first such trip in almost a year. <\/p>\n On Sunday, Emmanuel Macron hosted the Saudi crown prince at the Esports World Cup, while Monday’s talks were also due to cover strategic issues, including the situation in the Middle East. <\/p>\n But the visit by the Saudi leader has sparked strong criticism in France. Three journalists’ unions protested against Paris’s decision to host him, recalling the existence of a French investigation opened into allegations of torture and enforced disappearance, following a complaint filed in 2021 over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. <\/p>\n Related <\/p>\n Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi national living in the United States and a critic of the Saudi ruling family, <\/a>was assassinated in 2018 in the Saudi consulate<\/a> in Istanbul. His dismembered body has never been found. <\/p>\n US intelligence concluded that Mohammed bin Salman was directly involved in the killing, and a United Nations investigation described the journalist’s death as an “extrajudicial killing for which Saudi Arabia is responsible”. <\/p>\n In December 2021, Emmanuel Macron became one of the first Western leaders to meet the prince after Khashoggi’s assassination. The Saudi crown prince has since made several visits to France. <\/p>\n ‘Choose France’ <\/p>\n<\/a> FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Emmanuel Macron and Mohammed bin Salman at the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup in Paris, on 23 August 2026. – Teresa Suarez\/Teresa Suarez\/Pool EPA via AP Two mega-projects in Saudi Arabia <\/p>\n