France and Saudi Arabia have announced plans for a six-billion-euro ($7bn) amusement park near Paris, following talks between French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Elysee Palace.
The agreement was among a raft of deals signed on Monday as Macron and Prince Mohammed, who is also known as MBS, seek to boost economic and defence ties between their two countries.
Macron’s office said the amusement park project will see the construction of three theme parks, one of which is expected to be manga-themed, near Cergy-Pontoise, about 30km northwest of Paris. The project is expected to create roughly 22,000 jobs and will be led by Qiddiya, an investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Macron called the project “extraordinary” and said it would create a “new global destination” on the scale of Disneyland Paris. He thanked Qiddiya and Saudi Arabia for their “trust” in French talent, framing the investment as a win for his “Choose France” drive to attract job-creating foreign capital.”We’re not done surprising the world. Very proud of this achievement,” he added.
The project stemmed from a discussion between Macron and MBS in December 2024 in Riyadh, where they discovered their “shared passion” for manga, “and in particular Dragon Ball Z”, an adviser to the French president told reporters.
The other agreements, signed in a ceremony attended by Macron and MBS, span energy, artificial intelligence, aviation financing, transport and health”.
