France aims to surpass $14bn FDI mark at its marquee global investment summit
France is hoping to build on the €13 billion ($14 billion) investment commitments it received last year as global corporate leaders and institutional investors gather in Paris today for the country’s flagship investment conference.
The Choose France Summit, which will be held at Chateau de Versailles, is the brainchild of President Emmanuel Macron to woo foreign direct investment to the second-largest EU economy.
The seventh edition of the summit will also host some of the top sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East, who will hold direct talks with the government and political leadership in France and explore investment opportunities.
“The idea is to have one specific day when you can gather all the global investors and present to them … why they need to invest in our country,” a senior French government official said. With a total of 28 announcements worth about €13 billion in investments and accounting for more than 8,000 jobs, the sixth edition of the event cemented France’s place among top European FDI destinations. The inaugural summit in 2018 received €2.1 billion in FDI pledges for 10 projects and even during Covid in 2020, the country received €607 million in FDI commitments.
The scale has risen steadily since to almost €10.8 billion in 2022, reflecting the country’s green re-industrialisation efforts aimed at the production of equipment in the renewable and low-carbon energy sectors – wind, solar, nuclear and batteries – as well as electric vehicles components, according to government data.
Today, Mr Macron, a former Rothschild investment banker, will also hold a series of private investment round-table meetings with chief executives of private sector companies, French officials said.
“One private session [will be] regarding the artificial intelligence and quantum investment opportunities in France,” the officials added.
Mr Macron will then hold discussions with 10 to 12 international chief executives on decarbonisation.
The president will also hold a private session with top executives from Indian companies, as he seeks FDI from Asia’s third-largest economy.
So far, 180 chief executives from around the world have confirmed attendance, less than half of which are from the EU zone, about 20 per cent each from North Americas and Asia, while the rest accounting for other geographies.
Chief executives of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Qatar Investment Authority, Kuwait Investment Authority, Bahrain’s Mumtalakat, representatives of Mubadala Investment Company in Abu Dhabi as well as Bahrain-based alternative investment company Investcorp are among those attending the summit, the French officials said. “We will be happy to welcome more investments from them.”
France is focused on re-industrialising the country, with major investments in the battery, hydrogen green manufacturing, as well as AI.
The country, which is trying to lower its debts and boost growth momentum is pursuing the France 2030 Investment Plan, an overarching agenda that aims to attract €54 billion in FDI by the end of this decade to build “the France of tomorrow”.
France has deep trade, economic and political ties with Arab nations in the broader Middle East and North Africa region, especially with oil-exporting countries in the Gulf.
The economic ties between the UAE and France have deepened in recent years following Mr Macron’s visit to the UAE in 2022 and President Sheikh Mohamed’s visit to Paris the following year. Emirati companies have already signed significant investment and co-operation agreements with their French counterparts.
Beyond the UAE, Paris has also managed to secure investment commitments from other GCC countries.
The French officials said the message from the president will be loud and clear to the global investment community at a time when FDI flows have somewhat waned for the broader Europe but has strengthened for France.
“We have made the reforms, we have lowered taxes … we have a pure green energy strategy investing in nuclear and renewables and we are an attractive country for investments,” the French official said.
“We will continue the reforms, the reforms to develop in innovation, the reforms to carry on [with] innovation and growth in France.”