Energy, regional conflicts, and bilateral cooperation to dominate Emmanuel Macron and Mohammed bin Salman’s discussions.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to welcome Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) to Paris for a two-day state visit, opening with the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup before turning to talks on regional security and economic ties.

The visit begins Sunday evening as Macron hosts the crown prince at the esports tournament’s final in Paris — the first time the competition, spanning video games to chess, has been held outside Saudi Arabia.

Bilateral meetings and a business forum will follow on Monday, when Macron’s office said the two leaders will discuss “the main topics of regional importance, within a framework of close collaboration between France and her partners in the Gulf”.

What’s on the agenda

Officials expect discussion of energy routes that could bypass the Strait of Hormuz, including new pipelines, capacity upgrades and alternative port networks, alongside talks on the Iran conflict, Gaza-Israel and the wider situation in Palestine, and developments in Lebanon and Syria.

Several agreements on health, transport and energy are due to be signed on Monday. Macron’s adviser said finding a resolution to the US-Israel war on Iran, now in its sixth month, remains out of reach, noting “It’s difficult to see a way out.”

The visit is MBS’s third to Paris, following trips in 2022 and 2023, and builds on the Saudi-French Strategic Partnership Council launched during Macron’s state visit to Riyadh in December 2024.

The Paris trip is Prince Mohammed’s first outside the kingdom since Saudi Arabia signed a trilateral defence pact with Turkiye and Pakistan on August 7 — the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, known as the Mecca pact.

Signed by the prince as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the agreement commits all three states to treat an armed attack on any one of them as an attack on all three.

Analysts say the pact reflects Riyadh’s push to diversify its security partnerships beyond Washington.

The deal builds on a bilateral Saudi-Pakistan mutual defence agreement signed in 2025, and comes as Gulf states weigh how to reduce their reliance on US security guarantees amid the prolonged fallout from the Iran war.

France has been a long-standing weapons and defence supplier to Gulf states, and Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as a growing investor in the French economy.

The two leaders last met in April in Islamabad during talks between Tehran and Washington aimed at ending the Iran war, agreeing then to stay in “close contact” on de-escalation efforts.

Saudi Arabia is separately set to host Expo 2030 and the 2034 football World Cup, both likely to feature in Monday’s discussions.