French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Riyadh on Monday for a three-day visit during which he will sign business deals and discuss regional crises with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The two leaders, who will have a one-on-one dinner on Tuesday, aim to bolster support for the Lebanese army’s reposting in the south of the country after a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
The visit has been described as “exceptional” by Mr Macron’s advisers, who said before the trip that he will seek to “significantly strengthen the economic partnership that exists between our two countries”.
Mr Macron is scheduled to spend three days in Saudi Arabia – significantly longer than his previous visits, which did not exceed one day. It will include a trip to the Unesco World Heritage site of AlUla.
The Saudi delegation that welcomed Mr Macron at the airport included Minister for Commerce, Majid bin Abdullah Al Qasab, and governor of Riyadh, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz.
Mr Macron, accompanied by members of his cabinet including Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Culture Minister Rachida Dati, then went to Al Yamamah Palace for a meeting with Prince Mohammed.
Defence deals are reportedly also on the table, as France intensifies its push to sell about 50 Rafale fighter jets, made by Dassault Aviation, to Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg reported. France is facing fierce competition from Germany’s Eurofighter Typhoon jets and US-made Boeing F-15s.
France wants to elevate its relationship with Saudi Arabia to a “strategic partnership”, which provides “enhanced political dialogue, involving foreign and defence ministers on strategic matters which concern our two countries”, the adviser said.
Dozens of French businessmen will be accompanying Mr Macron during his visit, from major companies including Total, EDF and Velia to promising start-ups such as Pasqal, Alan, Mistral AI and Loft Orbital. “For some, they will sign contracts in Riyadh. For others, they are also engaged in the development of AlUla,” a second adviser to Mr Macron said.
Mr Macron is scheduled to visit line four of the metro in Riyadh, which was built by French companies Egis, Alstom, and Transdev. He will also co-preside the plenary of the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Fund alongside Yasir Al Rumayyan, the Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, and attend a French-Saudi business summit.
The reconstruction of war-torn Lebanon, where losses caused by Israeli bombardments has been estimated at $8.5 billion by the World Bank, will also be on the agenda.
“We’ll also discuss consolidating the ceasefire and the restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty over its own territory, with the return and redeployment of the Lebanese armed forces,” the first adviser said. “We have mobilised nationally and we will do so very quickly on the ground with the deployment of engineering and demining capabilities that the Lebanese Armed Forces need to be able to redeploy to the south and fulfil the mandate that has been given to them. This obviously requires international mobilisation.”
France hopes that Lebanon will soon elect a new president and advisers to the Elysee said Paris will be watching closely a parliamentary session planned for January 9 in Beirut. “This political question will indeed be at the heart of our discussions,” the first adviser said. “Our wish is to ensure that Lebanese officials agree on a candidate who is able to appoint a government, a government that must be able to meet the expectations of the Lebanese and the international community when it comes to reforms to be made.”
After jointly announcing a ceasefire in Lebanon with the US, France hopes to continue pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza with the support of Saudi Arabia. “Saudi Arabia is calling for the concrete establishment of a Palestinian state. Today, it is a question of seeing how to open up this political perspective and it is an objective that we share,” the adviser said.
There will also be discussions on Iran and the latest developments in Syria, where rebels have seized Idlib and Aleppo in recent days in the boldest assault in years. “It will be important for the two heads of state to be able to discuss their perception of Iran's role in the future and in the current escalation, and to work to find convergences on the positions that we can support on this subject, particularly with regard to the Trump administration,” the adviser said.
