Saudi Crown Prince's Visit to France: Strengthening Strategic Partnership Amid Global and Regional Crises

The Saudi-French partnership has evolved in recent years into a broader strategic alliance encompassing politics, economy, defense, energy, and culture. In this context, activities for the second day of the visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to France are underway, responding to an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron received the Saudi Crown Prince on Sunday, where they attended the closing ceremony of the 2026 World Esports Championship in Paris. They are scheduled to meet again on Monday, with the visit’s second day focusing more on bilateral relations, alongside economic, defense, and cultural issues.

On Monday evening, the Saudi Crown Prince will be received by French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu at the courtyard of the Palace of Versailles in Paris, where formal reception ceremonies will take place, according to a statement issued by the French Ministry of the Interior.

On Monday, the two sides will hold the first expanded meeting of the Franco-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council, implementing agreements reached during Macron’s state visit to Saudi Arabia at the end of 2024, when the council was established as an institutional framework to organize cooperation between the two countries on priority issues ranging from regional security to investment, energy, and cultural transformation.

Opportunity for Political Coordination

Riyadh and Paris view the visit as an opportunity to expand political coordination amid interconnected regional and international crises, including the Gaza war, maritime navigation security, counter-terrorism, extremism, transnational crime, and defense, security, and cyber cooperation.

Saudi-French coordination on the Palestinian file has been highlighted through their joint presidency of the International Conference on the Peaceful Settlement of the Palestinian Issue, and the implementation of the two-state solution in New York in 2025.

This initiative led to the "New York Declaration," which was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly by a vote of 142, serving as a framework to advance concrete steps toward a two-state solution and end the war in Gaza.

Saudi and French Visions for 2030

Economically, Saudi Arabia and France aim to leverage the intersection of "Saudi Vision 2030" and "France 2030 Plan" to open wider avenues for joint investment, particularly in industry, energy, technology, space, tourism, education, and defense.

Saudi data indicates that bilateral trade volume reached approximately $11.5 billion in 2025, while hundreds of French companies operate in the Saudi market, including firms that have established regional headquarters in the Kingdom.

Economic cooperation extends to both conventional and renewable energy, including oil and petrochemicals, low-emission hydrogen, carbon capture technologies, carbon storage, and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Projects such as "Satorp" in Jubail and the "Amiral" project stand out as prominent examples of industrial partnership between the two sides.

In the financial and investment sector, Saudi Public Investment Fund and French National Investment Bank signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2024 to enhance cooperation and provide financial support amounting to up to $10 billion over five years, while the direct air link between Riyadh and Paris supports business and tourism flows between the two nations.

Saudi-French Cultural Partnership

Culturally, Al-Ula represents one of the most prominent facets of the Saudi-French partnership, since the establishment of the joint ministerial committee in 2018 to oversee the development of the heritage site and transform it into a global destination for heritage, culture, and tourism.

Cooperation includes the development of Sharaan Resort, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, the Al-Ula Tram project in collaboration with French company Alstom, and the "Al-Hajar Villa" as a shared Saudi-French cultural center.

Tourism cooperation also stands out as one of the key implementation pathways of the partnership, through joint programs for capacity building, attracting investment, exchanging expertise in sustainable tourism, and applying data and artificial intelligence to develop tourist destinations.

The visit has taken on an additional sports and cultural dimension with the Crown Prince’s participation in the closing ceremony of the 2026 World Esports Championship in Paris—the first edition of the tournament held outside the Kingdom—reflecting esports’ emergence as a new arena for collaboration between the two countries, alongside politics, economy, and culture.