China News Agency, Paris, July 28 (Reporter Li Yang) French President Emmanuel Macron met with visiting Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed in Paris on the evening of the 28th local time to discuss issues such as energy supply.

  The Saudi crown prince arrived at the Elysee Palace in Paris at 9 o'clock that night, and Macron greeted him and shook hands with him.

Then Macron led the Saudi crown prince up the steps covered with red carpets and into the Elysee Palace.

Macron also hosted a working dinner for the Saudi crown prince.

French Foreign Minister Colonna and others attended the event that night.

  Energy prices have risen due to a deepening gas shortage in Europe due to Russia's recent slashing of gas supplies to Europe.

EU member states earlier agreed to take voluntary measures to reduce gas demand this winter by 15%.

Therefore, issues such as energy supply and oil production are generally considered to be the main topics discussed by Macron and the Saudi crown prince.

Saudi Arabia has previously pledged to support the balance of the global crude oil market.

  Macron's meeting with the Saudi crown prince has attracted attention both at home and abroad.

This is the first official visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed to an EU country since Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist, was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in October 2018.

Before his visit to France, the Saudi crown prince had visited Greece. During the visit, representatives of Saudi Arabia and Greece signed a cooperation agreement worth billions of euros.

  France has strong economic ties with Saudi Arabia.

According to the data, the trade volume between Saudi Arabia and France in the past five years was 43.4 billion US dollars; in 2021, Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports to France were 453 million US dollars, an increase of 105% over 2020.

Further promotion of economic and trade cooperation between Saudi Arabia and France is also expected to be an important issue for Mohammed's visit to France.

  U.S. President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia this month and bumped his fists during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed, sparking controversy in the United States.

Biden said he spoke with the Saudi crown prince about Khashoggi's killing.

French public opinion believes that Macron's meeting with the Saudi crown prince will not be able to bypass related issues.

French official sources said Macron would raise human rights issues, including individual cases.

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