Choose France summit kicks off with big hopes for foreign investment

France rolls out the red carpet to some 180 business leaders on Monday at the annual international business summit aimed at wooing foreign investors. Buoyed up by recent data showing France remains the most attractive country in Europe, the presidency has promised record investments, though there is growing competition from a reinvigorated Britain.

President Emmanuel Macron hosts the Choose France summit at Versailles Palace – a royal venue designed to encourage princely sums, and his office announced Monday morning that France has secured €15 billion euros of foreign investments in 56 different projects, including €4 billion from Microsoft, €1.2 billion from Amazon and €1 billion each from Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

The amount is up from last year, when some 28 projects were announced, worth a total of €13 billion.

This year's slogan "France, land of champions", builds on the buzz around the upcoming Paris Olympics which starts on 26 July.

Timely news

The recent EY barometer comforted France's position as European champion for foreign investment. For the fifth year running, France topped the list ahead of the UK and Germany.

“This extremely important news validates all the efforts and reforms that have been carried out since 2017,” the presidential office said about the ranking.

The EY survey showed France is also leading in 11 out of 15 sectors, including pharmaceuticals, automobile, electronics, logistics, and industrial equipment.

France will also have to watch out for Britain, which appears to have recovered from the shock of Brexit.

Read more on RFI English

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