Take care of its international relations.
Emmanuel Macron arrived this Saturday in Jeddah, on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, to discuss with Crown Prince Mohammed ben Salman “stability” in the Middle East and the situation in Lebanon.
Emmanuel Macron is one of the first Western leaders to meet Mohammed ben Salman since the assassination in 2018 of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country's consulate in Istanbul.
The image of the crown prince internationally has since been strongly tarnished by this affair.
The Head of State justified this meeting by deeming it necessary to speak to Saudi Arabia, "the first Gulf country in terms of size", in order to be able "to work for the stability of the region".
But that "does not mean that we are complacent", he assured, alluding to this assassination.
Pacify relations between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon
The strong man of the kingdom, in a brown abaya, welcomed the French president at the beginning of the afternoon in the royal palace of the great Saudi port city.
After an interview, they were to have lunch together.
"I note that Saudi Arabia organized the G20 in the following year (the Khashoggi affair) and I did not note that many powers boycotted" this major international meeting, noted Emmanuel Macron .
"We have always been clear on the subject of human rights or this matter".
Faced with the Saudi Crown Prince, he had in particular to plead the cause of Lebanon where the economic crisis was worsened by the diplomatic quarrel opened in October with several Gulf States, foremost among which Arabia, which had notably frozen its imports.
He intends to take advantage of the resignation, announced Friday, of the Lebanese Minister of Information George Kordahi, at the origin of the crisis for having criticized the military intervention of Riyadh in Yemen.
Welcoming this resignation, Emmanuel Macron expressed his hopes of "being able to re-engage all the Gulf countries in the relationship with Lebanon".
Record sale of Rafale in the United Arab Emirates
Emmanuel Macron arrived in Jeddah, from where he will leave in the afternoon, on the second day of an express tour in the Gulf which led him to meet the two other strongmen of the region: the crown prince of 'Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
The stopover in Dubai enabled it to sign a historic agreement for the acquisition by the Emirates of 80 Rafale fighter jets - a record order for the fighter plane which entered service in 2004 - for 14 billion euros.
Other military contracts (helicopters and armaments) pushed the total to 17 billion.
In Doha, Emmanuel Macron notably "thanked" Qatar for having organized the evacuation of 258 Afghans, "threatened because of their commitments" or "their links with France", who will be repatriated to France after being passed through the emirate.
World
Saudi Arabia: This dispute between the crown prince and a spy who worries Washington for his secrets
Politics
Emmanuel Macron on a diplomatic visit to the Gulf countries to sign contracts
Emirates
Lebanon
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Saudi Arabia
Emmanuel Macron
Mohammed ben salman
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