France, the new gateway to Europe (with an interesting take on China)
Since June 2019, France has become the second most attractive country in Europe in terms of foreign investments, exceeding Germany and catching up with the United Kingdom. It is the first country for R&D and industrial projects thanks to a number of factors among which France strategic position giving access to EMEA and African markets, developed infrastructure, a leading dynamic economy, quality of R&D team and innovation.
- STRATEGIC POSITION
France is the country with the second largest economy in the Eurozone. It has been recognized in 2018 as the second most attractive European country for purposes of foreign investment (1st for R&D and industrial projects) and has surpassed Germany since June 2019.1
French companies and entrepreneurs have access to the 67 million inner consumer market, the second biggest in Europe. In addition, they get direct access to more than 500 million consumers in the European Single Market.
France offers a central European location providing easy access to EMEA and African markets.
- GEOGRAPHY AND DEVELOPED INFRASTRUCTURE
The territory of France is 551,000 square kilometers which makes it the largest country in the European Union.
The country has 18 regions that differ from one another in terms of economic development, dominant sectors of industry and business traditions. Every business, thus, could easily find a suitable French region.
It is a country with high transport network density (above 100 km/1000 km); in particular, its high-speed rail network is the second longest in Europe.
- A LEADING ECONOMY
France is one of the world leaders in sectors such as automotive, aerospace, luxury goods and tourism industries.
It is the world’s fifth largest economy and the world’s seventh largest foreign investor.
World Bank ranked France the 32nd among 190 economies in terms of easiness of doing business, the index of business confidence being especially high (100.00 Index Points).2
- HUMAN FACTOR
France is highly regarded for its high hourly labor productivity rate, ahead of Denmark and other 28 countries of the European Union.3
France is known for the quality of universities, business and engineering schools, as well as academic research teams and personnel, and for retaining key talents.
- RISING START-UP NATION
The French government strives to make France one of the most attractive countries in the world for startups eager to launch themselves, conquer international markets and build a meaningful future and to deploy a proactive technology policy (artificial intelligence, for example) to grow more billion-euro start-ups.
France has already drummed up €5 billion of capital from institutional investors to pour into tech companies over the next three years.
France is becoming a ‘Startup Nation’ with no fewer than 12,000 startups and the largest startup campus in Europe, Station F, located in Paris.
French startup movement the “French Tech” was launched in 2015 by the French government. It is a unique system that brings together startups, investors, decision-makers and community builders.
The “French Tech” is the pool of funding designed to help the latter bring the business strategy to life, each in their own local communities, by co-funding projects carried out within a short period of time.
At present, around 42.2 % of the equity of CAC 40 listed companies is owned by non-residents, whilst nearly 21 % of business enterprise R&D is conducted by foreign companies.1
- FRANCE-ISRAELI BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
The number of Israeli investment projects in France is rapidly growing.1 There are nearly 60 Israeli companies operating in France, where they employ more than 3,000 people.1
In 2018, France was the fourth host country for Israeli projects (11%) after the United Kingdom (21%), Germany (19%) and Spain (13%).1
- FRANCE-CHINA-ISRAEL PARTNERSHIP
In March 2019, France and China have celebrated the 55th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.
France and China try to strengthen their cooperation in order to boost bilateral trade and economies. In November 2019, President Macron has visited China for the second time. France has been one of the main European destinations for Chinese investment, and China has become France’s number one trading partner in Asia.
China is also the seventh largest export destination for France4 and its second largest supplier, with the aerospace industry in first place, then computer, electronic, agro-food, health and cosmetics industries. Therefore, France has a strong interest in securing trade relations with China.
Israel with its innovation and talent could play an important role in strengthening cooperation between China and France, serving as a bridge between Beijing and Paris for expanding commercial relations. Israel stands out in terms of innovation, and France may benefit from it in terms of cooperation in the technology sector.
Moreover, taking into account France’s commercial relationship with China, this should lead to an even stronger French-Israeli cooperation to achieve common objectives.
SOURCES:
- 2018 Annual Report: Foreign investment in France. Business France. Published April 4, 2018.
- World Bank Report, «Ease of doing business index for France», Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Published January 1, 2019.
- OCDE (2019) report, «GDP per hour worked». Published April 29, 2019.
- France’s Top Trading Partners. World’s Top Exports. Published November 8, 2019.
