French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday warmly welcomed Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for talks in Paris, with the two men enjoying a warm handshake that they emphasised by using all four hands.
Prince Mohammed arrived in France following a visit from US President Joe Biden to Riyadh earlier this month.
On his way to France, he stopped in Greece this week.Â
Crown Prince and the French President held an expanded meeting in the presence of the delegations of the two countries, according to Saudi Press Agency.
The meeting was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy; Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, Minister of Sports; Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, Minister of Culture.
‘The only way’Â
But for Western countries desperate to find new sources of energy, the 36-year-old de-facto leader of the world’s biggest oil producer has become an essential figure.
The Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine in February sent energy prices soaring, with Western nations scouring the globe to find supplies to replace oil and gas from Russia.
“For the president to have an influence and tackle the problems that European countries and France face… the only way is to talk with all of our partners,” an aide said..
The French president first hosted Prince Mohammed in 2018, when he took him to an art exhibition at the Louvre museum, and travelled to the kingdom in December 2021 for further talks.
The Saudi Crown Prince stayed overnight at his Louis XIV chateau in Louveciennes west of Paris which he acquired in 2015, according to a source who asked not to be named.
Despite its name, the 7,000 m2 castle was only built in 2009.Â