Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Paris on Sunday 23 August for a two-day visit that is expected to produce a wave of bilateral agreements and high-level diplomatic exchanges with French President Emmanuel Macron. The Élysée Palace described the trip — the crown prince's first foreign visit in several months — as a reflection of the "dynamism of the Franco-Saudi relationship in a tense regional context."

The visit opened on Sunday evening when both leaders attended the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup at the Grand Palais, a global gaming competition held outside Saudi Arabia for the first time — relocated from Riyadh due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The event reflects Riyadh's heavy investment in the esports sector as part of Vision 2030, a sweeping national transformation plan aimed at reducing Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil revenues. Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund recently joined a consortium to acquire gaming giant Electronic Arts for $55 billion, giving Riyadh control over some of the world's most prominent sports video game franchises. On Monday afternoon, the two leaders are due to co-chair the inaugural session of the French-Saudi Strategic Partnership Council, with a formal agreement-signing ceremony scheduled for later that day. The Élysée said accords would span transport, energy and health, while a ministerial meeting will address diversification of energy supply routes — a pressing concern given Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway through which a significant share of the world's hydrocarbons passes. Diplomatic discussions are also set to cover the Iran-Saudi tensions, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a possible two-state solution, as well as the situations in Lebanon and Syria. One commercially significant project under discussion is a Dragon Ball-themed amusement park, backed by a Saudi sovereign fund, potentially to be built in Cergy, northwest of Paris, on the former site of the 1980s Mirapolis park — though the Élysée declined to confirm details of any ongoing negotiations.

The visit has drawn sharp criticism from French press freedom organisations. Four major French journalism unions — SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT-Journalistes and SGJ-FO — issued a joint statement calling the invitation a "provocation" to those who defend press freedom and freedom of expression. They pointed to an ongoing French judicial investigation into a complaint filed in 2021 by Reporters Without Borders and Trial International, accusing Mohammed bin Salman of torture and enforced disappearance in connection with the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident living in the United States, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018; his dismembered body was never found. US intelligence agencies have concluded that the crown prince bore direct responsibility for the killing. The unions also noted that 18 journalists are currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia according to Reporters Without Borders. The French presidency did not indicate whether human rights would feature on the agenda of the bilateral talks.