Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman arrived in Greece yesterday and is due to head to France later this week.
Prince Mohamed will meet with the leaders of both France and Greece “to discuss bilateral relations and ways to enhance them in various fields,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported, citing a statement from the royal court.
The trip comes less than two weeks after US President Joe Biden visited the Saudi city of Jeddah for a summit of Arab leaders and met one-on-one with Prince Mohamed, greeting him with a fist bump.
Accompanied by three ministers and a large business delegation, Prince Mohamed held talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens, footage broadcast live by Greece’s ERT public television showed.
Prince Mohamed said the two countries would finalise a series of bilateral projects, including the installation of an electricity cable linking Saudi Arabia to Greece which will provide Europe “with much cheaper energy”. Yesterday, agreements on maritime transport, energy and defence technology among other things are due to be signed, according to the Greek foreign ministry.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a spike in energy prices earlier this year, Saudi Arabia came under pressure from the United States and European powers to pump more oil.
Elevated oil prices have been a key factor in inflation in the US soaring to 40-year highs, putting pressure on the Biden administration ahead of mid-term elections later this year. But the world’s biggest crude exporter has resisted pressure to open the supply taps, citing its commitment to production schedules determined by the Opec+ exporting bloc it co-leads with Russia.
In May, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan stated that the kingdom had done what it could for the oil market.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis greets Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman prior to their meeting at the prime minister’s office in Athens, yesterday.
