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France wants whole truth on Saudi dissident's killing: minister

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire leaves following the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, October 17, 2018. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

PARIS (Reuters) - French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Saudi Arabia's admission that dissident Jamal Khashoggi was killed at its Istanbul consulate was welcome "progress", but urged the kingdom to follow through with a full and transparent investigation.

"I note that the Saudi authorities have changed tack, admitted the facts and accepted some responsibility, so we're making progress," Le Maire said on France 3 television on Sunday. "But full light needs to be shed."

How bilateral relations develop from here will "depend on the way the truth is aired, the investigation conducted and the results established," Le Maire said.

(Reporting by Laurence Frost; editing by John Stonestreet)