At the invitation of the French president, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is visiting the French Republic on a state visit that comes at a historic moment impossible to miss — whether in terms of the fast-moving events regionally and internationally, or in terms of Saudi-French relations themselves.
The present year, 2026, marks the centenary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Paris in 1926, before a French consulate came into existence in Jeddah in 1932.
Later, King Faisal bin Abdulaziz's visit to France in 1967 and his meeting with President Charles de Gaulle formed one of the pivotal stations that pushed the relationship toward a wide political and strategic compass.
This visit reflects the dynamism of French-Saudi relations and their capacity to meet rapid change on every front, particularly given the broad understandings and shared objectives between the two states. To speak of Saudi Arabia at the present moment is to point to a dynamic political power that plays a rational role in approaches to security and stability in a turbulent region, and that seeks to foster stability at the global level as one of the most important states of the Group of 20.
It has become clear that Europeans, and the French foremost among them, grasp the realities of political geography without either understating or overstating them — first among them the proposition that Saudi Arabia is not a state of surpassing importance merely by virtue of its oil wealth, but that its location and its position on the world map, its economic capacity, and its religious standing together make of it an exceptional strategic value.
As for France, it remains the true Western point of connection between the humanist heritage of the Enlightenment and the modernity of Western civilization. France is the capital of light not for its lamps but for its ideas, for the heritage of its philosophers, thinkers, writers, and poets, for its political figures and its beacon of learning.
At the same time, France still represents the conscious political mind of the European continent, and its beating heart, seeking a wide margin of independence in decision-making, away from the pressures of any great pole, whether eastern or western. Nor is it any secret that France strives to maintain an independent presence in the Middle East, free of the reverberations of divergent international policies.
What brings the two countries together, in truth, is their shared pursuit of regional stability through diplomacy, respect for international law, and the search for political solutions.
On the other side lies the maximizing of opportunities for cooperation at every level. Saudi-French interests, as Prince Mohammed bin Salman noted at the press conference he held with President Emmanuel Macron, are multiple: political, military, intelligence and security, economic, and technological.
It is surely certain that the situation in the Arabian Gulf region in particular appears among the most important points binding Paris and Riyadh, especially in light of current events. France and President Macron understand that the question of security in the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf is a source of acute concern for them, since the region is witnessing continuous conflicts, particularly in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine, all of which is reflected in Europe. At the same time, the statements issued by the Élysée in the hours before this important visit displayed a deep appreciation of Saudi Arabia's role as a force for stability in a turbulent region, and a point of anchorage on shifting sands.
From here it can be affirmed that Saudi-French consultation at this moment grants the two large states a wider margin in international movement, particularly given the recent tensions obstructing navigation in one of the most important waterways in the world, the Strait of Hormuz, and the consequences of that for energy prices and the reverberations for a global economy troubled by anxiety by day and sleeplessness by night.
Saudi Arabia's investment in exceptional relations with the French Republic reflects diplomatic intelligence and a high political prudence, and means that Paris becomes a genuine partner and an effective actor in peace and in war. It goes without saying that the descendants of the Gauls possess a state with a global geopolitical presence: France is not merely a European capital but a nuclear power, a permanent member of the Security Council, with a military and political presence in the Middle East and the Arabian Gulf, and it can serve as a safety valve in times of calamity.
Between the targets of Vision 2030 and the France 2030 program, the Saudi-French partnership remains a space for sustainable strategic cooperation.
