French President Emmanuel Macron is set to welcome Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Paris for a two-day state visit focused on regional security and economic cooperation. The visit opens Sunday evening with Macron hosting Mohammed bin Salman at the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup, followed by bilateral meetings and a business forum on Monday.
The leaders are expected to discuss energy routes that could bypass the Strait of Hormuz, the Iran conflict, Gaza-Israel and the wider situation in Palestine, as well as developments in Lebanon and Syria. Agreements covering health, transport and energy are due to be signed on Monday.
What is planned for the visit
The Esports World Cup final will take place in Paris, marking the first time the competition—which spans video games to chess—has been held outside Saudi Arabia. Monday’s programme will move to official talks and a business forum.
Macron’s office said the discussions would cover “the main topics of regional importance” within a framework of close collaboration between France and its Gulf partners. Saudi Arabia is also preparing to host Expo 2030 and the 2034 football World Cup, which are expected to feature in the talks.
Regional security and energy on the agenda
The energy discussions are expected to include new pipelines, capacity upgrades and alternative port networks intended to provide routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The talks will also address the conflict involving Iran and the wider regional crises in Gaza-Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.
A Macron adviser said a resolution to the US-Israel war on Iran, now in its sixth month, remained out of reach, saying: “It’s difficult to see a way out.”
Why the meeting matters for both countries
This will be Mohammed bin Salman’s third visit to Paris, following trips in 2022 and 2023. The meeting builds on the Saudi-French Strategic Partnership Council launched during Macron’s state visit to Riyadh in December 2024.
The Paris trip is the crown prince’s first outside Saudi Arabia since the kingdom signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, or Mecca pact, with Türkiye and Pakistan on August 7. The agreement commits the three countries to treat an armed attack on any one of them as an attack on all three.
France has long supplied weapons and defence equipment to Gulf states, while Saudi Arabia is seeking a larger role as an investor in the French economy. The two leaders last met in April in Islamabad during talks between Tehran and Washington aimed at ending the Iran war, when they agreed to remain in close contact on de-escalation efforts.
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