PARIS — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Thursday.
The French president and the Saudi prince will meet for a working dinner on the Elysée palace, Macron’s workplace mentioned, with out offering additional particulars on the purpose of the go to.
The official journey comes as France and Europe are looking for different power suppliers amid Russia’s warfare in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Macron met with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and introduced a diesel provide settlement. At a G7 assembly final month, Macron referred to as for a mechanism to carry down oil costs by asking OPEC international locations equivalent to Saudi Arabia to extend manufacturing — an answer that did not persuade different G7 leaders.
The crown prince’s French go to is a part of his first journey to Europe for the reason that 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi — reportedly ordered by Mohammed bin Salman himself. The brutal killing of Khashoggi contained in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul despatched shockwaves by way of the worldwide group and drew international condemnation.
Earlier this week, the crown prince visited Greece, the place the 2 international locations signed offers on undersea knowledge cables and mentioned doable collaboration within the power sector. The journey comes lower than two weeks after U.S. President Joe Biden met with the crown prince within the Saudi metropolis of Jeddah, greeting him with a fist bump.
