Look who’s travelling

The big-dog world leaders mostly fly private, but some occasionally fly commercial, if at least to send a carefully crafted electoral message that they’re just like us.

So like SJP we got to thinking: do world leaders ever fly on points? Do they get a glass of complimentary bubbles just ‘cause? Do they send a strongly worded email to their transport minister over delays? Do they ever jostle over the armrest? Do they prefer window or aisle? 

We can confirm the answers are respectively yes, yes, yes, yes, and window (their advisors can then shield them from pesky aisleway commoners once the initial ‘leader of the people’ footage gets uploaded to Insta).

Anyways, here are some of the world leaders with the most intriguing autumn travel plans, starting with…

1. 🇫🇷 Macron makes the Gulf 

With parts of Paris still in post-riot flames, what could possibly compel a French leader to nonetheless hop on the presidential jet to the Gulf the very next day?

Simple: energy.

With soaring prices feeding public fury, Emmanuel Macron is on a diplomatic sprint through Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar (his FM also just hit the Saudis).

His mission is nakedly transactional: “secure a certain number of commitments” for fuel, including for islands such as Reunion and Mayotte feeling like an afterthought.

Of course, that’s easier said than done given pretty much every other world leader is chasing the same barrels, though France has a unique advantage: Macron comes bearing genuinely advanced defence capabilities right as the Gulf monarchies wake up to their own vulnerabilities plus US limitations. Paris is already claiming success, with new pledges equivalent to roughly 10% of French diesel consumption.

But France isn’t the only Western power flying long-haul this week…

2. 🇺🇸 Rubio runs off to Central and South Asia

With the US still locked in an Iran shooting war, his boss (Trump) ninja-starring concessions at Russia, and the US midterms just two weeks away, the secretary of state’s air time is really at a premium right now.

So of all the weeks and cities, why jet off to Samarkand (Uzbekistan)… now?

The answer has three layers, with the first (per State’s press release) all about leading a delegation of 200 US business leaders to meet reps from the five main ‘Stans (Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Turkmen). The draw? Sure, everything from critical minerals to energy and mega-infrastructure deals.

The second layer is that Putin’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine has cracked open a power vacuum in the old Soviet sphere, and DC sees an opportunity; not so much to fill the void but to offer more options, and thereby force Beijing to burn more energy competing across Eurasia rather than projecting out across the Pacific.

And the third layer is really political: Rubio has his eye on the White House for 2028 and presumably welcomes a bit of midterm media distance from an unpopular boss now making unpopular moves from Russia to Iran and beyond.

From Uzbekistan, Rubio then flies to India, but conspicuously skips the politics of Delhi to instead tap the economics of Mumbai and Jamnagar, home to the world’s largest single-site refinery, owned by the powerful Ambani family. The Ambanis are backing a new mega-refinery project in Texas (with obscure ties to Trump Jr, btw).

Anyway, while Washington tries playing long-term chess in Asia…

3. 🇷🇺 Lavrov leaves for Iran

Putin’s envoy jetted to Tehran yesterday (Monday) for a first wartime visit, seeing both his counterpart (Araghchi) and the regime’s figurehead president (Pezeshkian).

Sure, Lavrov framed Iran’s fight against the US as somehow identical to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and recommitted to their pre-war investment and energy deals.

But substantively, it’s all familiar turf: Putin has long used his UN Security Council seat to shield Iran from international scrutiny and thereby stretch US power, while quietly supplying intelligence and hardware that might’ve killed US personnel.

Now doubling down during an official wartime visit? As the Joker once said, it’s about sending a message, and this time he has an audience of one: President Trump. By flexing for the cameras in Tehran, Lavrov is trying to suggest that any Middle East off-ramp still runs through Moscow, and thereby still carries a cost in terms of whatever else Putin wants from Trump in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, southern Africa’s newest leader just pursued his own audience of one…

4. 🇧🇼 Boko bails to China 

Botswana’s Harvard-educated leader, who just ended the governing party’s six-decade rule in 2024, is now back from his first state visit to China. Why?

Sure, he and Xi Jinping saw a troupe of dancing robots and upgraded their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership (say that five times fast).

But the real why? Boko inherited an economy in crisis, as the diamond industry (a ~third of Botswana’s GDP and ~75% of its foreign currency earnings) gets wiped by softer demand and lab diamond supply. Moody's has downgraded its debt rating twice in less than a year. 

So what Boko really needs is urgent investment to diversify. And… did he get it?

Not really. China’s state-owned MMG miner was already pushing ahead with a $900M expansion of its newly acquired Khoemacau copper mine in Botswana, and Xi has now added vague promises to “enhance market access” for Botswana’s fading diamonds.

But even for that mid package, Boko still had to publicly back Xi’s claims on Taiwan, plus endorse his Global Security Initiative (broadly an alternative to US-led pacts).

And while the big powers trade threats and favours, let’s wrap with the world’s quintessential palate-cleanser…

5. 🇨🇭 Parmelin pops over to Vietnam 

Yes, Switzerland’s president just toured Vietnam, technically to mark their 55th anniversary, but really to pop champagne over a trade deal 14 years in the making.

How did Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (🇳🇴🇨🇭🇮🇸🇱🇮) finally get their deal over the line? Amid the sting of global tariff wars and a broader diversification away from China, both mid-sized economies suddenly saw value in the other: Vietnam now gets high-tech European engineering and investment, while EFTA gets a foothold in Southeast Asia’s booming manufacturing hub.

Anyway, whether it’s a sudden energy sprint, or a pact 14 years in the making, take it as proof that in a messy, polyamorous world, maybe the most costly itinerary involves just staying at home.

Sound even smarter:

• Emirati envoy Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan is also now in India for talks with his Indian counterpart.

• Boko isn’t the only African leader with a China trip on their October calendar, with the leaders of Togo and Djibouti also now returning or departing.