Meeting between M. Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic, and His Majesty Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

President Macron had a meeting with His Majesty Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, today, Monday 2 December 2024, as part of the State visit he is paying the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2 to 4 December 2024.

The two leaders welcomed the signature of the strategic partnership between France and Saudi Arabia, which will increase concrete cooperation and projects in every sphere, be it defence, the energy transition, culture, mobility between the two countries or the organization of major events. Among other things, the two leaders agreed to work jointly to prepare the AI Action Summit, which will take place in Paris at the beginning of February.
They also discussed the regional situation and agreed to make every effort to contribute to de-escalation in the region. The French President and Crown Prince’s priority is to establish a ceasefire in Gaza without further delay, in order to secure the release of all the hostages, protect civilians thanks to the delivery of humanitarian aid and contribute to the search for a political solution based on the two-State solution.

The two leaders added that they would continue diplomatic efforts to consolidate the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon announced by President Macron and President Biden on Tuesday 26 November 2024. Together they called for a presidential election in Lebanon, with the goal of bringing Lebanese people together and conducting the reforms necessary to the country’s stability and security. 
Finally, global challenges were discussed. President Macron began by thanking the Crown Prince for holding the One Water Summit [OWS]h, co-chaired by France and Kazakstan, on the sidelines of COP16 on desertification in Riyadh; it will provide an opportunity to put forward sustainable solutions to work towards better sharing and governance of water resources. The French President pledged to ensure that the work done at the OWS could feed into the work done with a view to the United Nations Ocean Conference, to be held in Nice in June 2025.