Star Metro - Macron hosts Saudi crown prince for visit ranging from esports to Mideast

A French presidential official said several agreements, on health, transport and energy, will be signed on Monday alongside talks likely to focus on Iran.

But the visit kicked off on Sunday evening on a lighter note with the crown prince being hosted by Macron at the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup hosted by Paris.

With FIFA President Gianni Infantino also in attendance, Macron spoke with leading gamers and handed out trophies.

The event, which brings together the leading performers in esports ranging from computer games to chess and has been eagerly backed by Riyadh, is being held outside Saudi Arabia for the first time.

Paris is keen to emphasise that the crown prince rarely leaves his home country other than for international summits and his trip to France was the first such for almost a year.

"The fact that he chose France for this visit is an important signal and testifies to the depth and dynamism of the Franco-Saudi relationship," said the French presidential official.

- 'Provocation' -

But three journalists' unions on Sunday protested against France hosting the Saudi strongman, who is known by his initials "MBS".

In a joint statement, the SNJ-CGT, CFDT-Journalistes and SGJ-FO unions noted that there was a live French investigation for torture and forced disappearance after a complaint lodged in 2021 over the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Khashoggi, a Saudi with US residency who was a critic of the Saudi ruling family, was murdered in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul in 2018. His body, cut up, was never recovered.

US intelligence concluded that MBS was directly involved in Khashoggi's killing, and a UN investigation described the journalist's death as an "extrajudicial killing for which Saudi Arabia is responsible".

The unions said the visit, following a previous one hosted by Macron in July 2022, "looks like a provocation for defenders of media freedom and freedom of expression".

The French presidential official declined to comment on whether the mooted agreements could touch on a vast theme park known as Dragons Ball, based on a Japanese manga and backed by a Saudi fund, which is mooted for the Val-d'Oise region outside Paris.

Saudi Arabia is also set to host a string of key global events, notably the Expo 2030 and above all the football World Cup in 2034.

Saudi Arabia, a close US ally which has a history of tensions with Iran, is also closely watching developments in the Islamic republic in the wake of the US-Israeli war.

On Monday afternoon, Mohammed bin Salman and Macron are to chair the first meeting of the Saudi-French strategic partnership council.

Macron and the crown prince "will discuss key regional issues, in a context calling for close coordination between France and its Gulf partners to foster stability and peace" in the Middle East, according to Macron's office.

In December 2021, Macron became one of the first Western leaders to meet the prince in Saudi Arabia in the wake of the Khashoggi killing. The Saudi crown prince has made multiple visits to France since then.

P.Beaulieu--SMC