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 aim of the go to.
The official journey comes as France and Europe are looking for different power suppliers amid Russia’s battle 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 deliver down oil costs by asking OPEC international locations corresponding 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 because the 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 means of the worldwide neighborhood and drew world condemnation.
Earlier this week, the crown prince visited Greece, the place the 2 international locations signed offers on undersea information 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.
