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Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for a “warm reception” and “hospitality”, after Thursday’s talks in Paris that have outraged human rights organisations.
Macron and bin Salman will work to “reduce the effects of the war in Ukraine,” according to a statement from the French government.
Aides to the French president had suggested before the talks in Paris that Macron planned to ask Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production to bring down crude prices.
Saudi Arabia is the Middle East’s largest producer of oil and gas. The 36-year-old prince, who in practice rules Saudi Arabia, is courted by several Western leaders because they need to replace missing Russian fossil fuels.
In the French statement, neither oil nor gas is mentioned, however, that Macron underlined the importance of “continuing the ongoing coordination with Saudi Arabia in terms of diversifying the energy supply to European countries”.
“Deeply concerned”
The late-dinner meeting at the Élysée Palace in Paris between bin Salman and Macron on Thursday night is seen as the latest example of the Saudi crown prince being re-accepted in the West. Bin Salman became a pariah after the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
American security services assess that bin Salman approved the murder, something that Saudi Arabia denies.
Amnesty International president Agnes Callamard told AFP she was “deeply concerned” about the Paris visit.
Defending the meeting
The French president’s allies have defended the meeting saying that France’s needs must come before principles in foreign policy. Analysts say Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries in the world that has the capacity to expand its oil production.
– There are partners, countries, that do not share France’s democratic values, but it would be a mistake not to talk, to try to get things done, said the country’s Minister of Public Administration, Stanislas Guerini, to the Europe 1 radio station.