French President Emmanuel Macron praised the fact that his reforms had paved the way for foreign investment projects of 20 billion euros ($ 22 billion), which were announced on Monday in Versailles Castle.
The number of records exceeded the 15 billion euros announced last year and consolidated France’s status as a top starting point in Europe for foreign direct investments, according to an EY ranking.
Around 50 new projects – from the areas of FinTech, cruise ships and data centers – were announced at the “Choose France” conference with around 200 CEO: inside.
Macron referred to reforms that he has supervised since taking office in 2017, and promised to further simplify bureaucracy and regulations.
He joined the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and asked the European Union to abolish a directive on entrepreneurial sustainability, which requires large companies to comply with human rights and environmental standards.
The announced projects included an investment by the US logistics company Prologis in the amount of 6.4 billion euros in the construction of data centers and warehouses as well as a plan of the Swiss-Italian company MSC Cruises in the amount of 3.5 billion euros for the construction of two passage ships on the French shipyard Saint-Nazaire.
At the event in Versailles, companies also confirmed investments of EUR 20.8 billion in AI projects in France, which came to another event in February. This includes a campus for artificial intelligence in the Paris region and AI centers in other places, including in Marseille.
The British Fintech company Revolut announced that it would invest one billion euros in a headquarters for EU countries in Paris.
While the government glossed out the results of the forum, at least one analyst said that the investment trend in the country would decrease.
“The announcements of the Choose France summit will probably not be enough to compensate for the investment deficit of companies in France,” said Sylvain Bersinger, chief economist at Asteres, in a note.
Another ranking that was published by the international management consultancy Kearney in April placed France in third place in Europe for foreign direct investments and in seventh place worldwide.
“France has many advantages, but it can still improve,” said Amazon France, Frederic Duval, and referred to the bureaucracy in particular. The US giant announced investments of 300 million euros.
The executives at the event included the Mexican Tycoon Carlos Slim, Stella Li from BYD from China and the CEO of Saudi Arabian entertainment company Qiddiya.
Representatives: Inside the asset fund of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi were also present, with Macron opening the Saudi Public Investment Fund in Paris on Tuesday. (AFP)
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