France gets $16 billion of foreign investments as part of ‘Choose France’ event

PARIS: This year’s “Choose France” event – an annual summit aimed at attracting foreign investment to France – will result in 15 billion euros ($16.2 billion) worth of foreign investments, up from last year, said the French presidency on Monday.

That amount represents an increase from last year’s summit, which brought in 13 billion euros worth of foreign investments.

President Emmanuel Macron kicks off the event on Monday.

The summit is aimed at burnishing Paris’ reputation as a leading European business centre as France – the euro zone’s second-biggest economy – faces headwinds over its budget deficit and tepid first-quarter economic growth.

Paris has also traditionally lagged New York and London as a global financial hub, with the closely watched Z/Yen survey published in March ranking New York as the world’s top financial centre, with London in second place.

The French presidency said this total of 15 billion euros worth of foreign investments came from 56 different business projects, with key sectors for investments including technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and finance.

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Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab said it would invest 4 billion euros in France, while over the weekend, France said Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab would announce a 1.2 billion euros investment at the event.

Healthcare companies Pfizer (PFE.N), opens new tab and AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab also announced investments worth a total of nearly $1 billion.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire will also host meetings on Monday with the CEOs of JPMorgan (JPM.N), opens new tab, Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab, Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab and Bank of America (BAC.N), opens new tab, among others.